


Blood of Gods

by tinygayscrapper (Mechanic_Dove)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU demigods, Boys annoying the crap out of one another, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Found Families, Hurt/Comfort, Keith making bad decisions with no plan, Lance flirting to manipulate boys, Lance is a trouble magnet, M/M, life debts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2018-11-01 18:08:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10927221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mechanic_Dove/pseuds/tinygayscrapper
Summary: On a search for his brother Keith saves a Demigod in trouble, and ends up with a son of Aphrodite with a self proclaimed "life debt" following him around.





	1. Chapter 1

The city was alive with the late Monday rush. The sun beat onto the streets while it could, before the shield of skyscrapers blocked it out. Two people bumped into Keith on their way past him and he made sure, not for the first time, that they hadn’t somehow stolen anything from him. His knife remained at his hip, hidden under the oversized red hoodie he’d grabbed from home before setting off. Cities…had never quite been his thing. He wasn’t much of a people person and at best had once for three months lived in a suburban neighborhood when a foster care service dumped him there. Usually, though, he lived in a pretty secluded part of the desert and while it wasn’t far from a small town he tended to get all the alone time he needed there.

Even more so in the last few weeks.

Regardless, He decided he could find a way to deal. The more people, the more chance he could find someone worth talking to. And the more hole in the wall bars there were, the higher the chance of one of them having options for Greek life.

This was how he ended up downtown, checking his pockets every time someone brushed against him and cursing his luck that he would ever need to fall this far in order to complete his mission. He’d asked around, and found only one girl who’s two eyes shifted into one if he stared long enough. Even she only helped after he bothered her for too long and flashed the emblem of his knife at her.

He really wouldn’t have trusted the place if he had anything to lose. There was a stairwell down to the entrance, which was marked clearly with an “Employees only” sign as if it belonged to the restaurant that ran business on the ground level. It was dirty, but that was to be expected, he supposed.

He tried to pull the door open and found it locked, to which he began to pound on it until finally it cracked open. On the other side there was a boy, eyes brown and narrowed and if Keith looked all the way down he could catch sight of brown furry legs and hooves. The boy studied him for a long while, “Never seen you before. What’s your fraternity?”

He’d heard that some in the cities used phrases like that. It didn’t make him less annoyed to hear it, “Kappa Theta Fuck you.” He flashed the emblem of his knife, “I’m Demi, let me in”

The boy did not look amused, “Perhaps you can come back when you’ve learned manners, Demi or not.”

He grit his teeth and shoved a hand in before the boy could close the door, “Wait. I’m sorry. Please let me in.”

“What’s your fraternity?” He seemed pleased to have the upper hand, Keith wanted to hit him.

“Ares. Please open the door.”

“See that wasn’t so hard.” He opened it up and stepped aside, hooves clacking against the cement floor. Once one looked past how small the place was, being only a basement with a couple of tables, couches and a counter that could really hardly be called a bar, it was…. Nice. In the back, a couple of naiad girls were all over each other, seemingly unaware of a couple of twenty something Demi’s watching like it was the best thing they’d ever seen. Some satyrs had been suckered into playing poker with what appeared to be a son of Dionysus and were losing badly. Behind the bar a hard eyed centaur polished glasses.

Keith moved over to him with much difficulty. The place was full of far too many chairs and tables for its size, and the amount of customers he could see. Though, he reasoned it was late afternoon on a Monday.

“What’s the cheapest thing you sell?” He sat in a barstool, trying to ignore how it squealed when he moved it.

He received an annoyed look, “Coffee.”

“I’ll have a cup of coffee.”

The centaur sighed, and turned to a pump coffee dispenser, filling a cup with brew that had no doubt been sitting untouched for hours. He dropped a copper piece on the bar in return for it, regardless.

“What’s your name?” He asked

“Careful with questions like that” the centaur replied, “Names have power.”

Keith scowled. There was just no way to do any mission as a demigod without a completely unnecessary amount of bullshit riddles. Making conversation just couldn’t be as easy as small talk anymore.

“Okay, so we won’t exchange names. How about we trade something better. I have questions and you have answers.”

The centaur raised an eyebrow, light eyes contrasting beautifully with his dark skin, “Perhaps a more fair trade. I have answers and you have silver.”

Keith signed, feeling it may come to that and pulled his backpack into his lap, feeling around in the front pocket to find only three silver pieces in a small nest of bronze pieces, “…Fine. I’m looking for someone. A son of Ares. He’s been missing for over a week and a half from a research expedition he was doing. He would have been with a son of Athena.”

The centaur hummed and looked at the bar, then back up to Keith. He waited and waited and finally Keith gave in and placed one of his silver pieces down. The centaur snatched it up, “I don’t know anything about a son of Ares or a son of Athena specifically. Demi’s aren’t my concern after all, however…. In a business like mine one does… Hear things.” He paused again, and Keith put down a second Silver piece, “Demigods and some human men have been going missing not far from here. Personally I didn’t think much of it until the bodies started showing up. There’s an Empusa living in this city. If these boys you mention went missing here, she probably got ‘em.”

Keith felt a cold lump in his gut and slammed another silver piece down, “Where is she, and is there any chance they’d still be alive?”

The centaur took it, inspecting it with pleasure, “Sure, sure. A week and a half, you said? They’d probably still be alive. From what I’ve heard she likes taking out their blood in little doses so they last longer. As for where to find her-“

“Wait, I have a map, will you just mark it for me?” He closed the front pocket and opened the main one, pulling out the flimsy little tourist fold he’d picked up at the train station on his way there. The centaur sighed and nodded, pulling a pen from his apron and circling a street corner.

“She’ll be there somewhere. There’s an apartment building there and from what I’ve heard she’s somewhere on the fourth floor. Be careful though. If she catches you you’re as good as dead, kid.”

Keith nodded, “Does she have any weaknesses?”

The Centaur waited, and waited and Keith sighed, “I don’t have any more silver.”

He smiled, and looked only a little guilty before saying, “Then I guess you’ll figure out her weaknesses for yourself.”

 

~~

Keith had had better days. With nothing but a handful of bronze pieces, one of the worst cups of coffee he’d ever had, and a whole lot of determination he found himself at the Empusa’s door. It was of course, not immediate. He spent over forty minutes arguing with the receptionist that he needed to know the apartments on the fourth floor that only housed one woman. Because he was her nephew of course, and it was… her birthday, so he was giving her a surprise. The woman didn’t believe it, and he didn’t blame her. Finally he succeeded in finding the right apartment due to her leaving to find her manager and Keith getting the five minutes he needed to look over the database on her computer. He was gone before she came back and at the right door before he could even think to come up with a plan.

He pulled a lock picking kit from his backpack and went to work, keeping his movements steady and deliberate. Reminding himself that if he rushed, he’d mess up and it would take more time. As it went, he prayed to the gods no one walked out of their apartments to find him like this.

By pure luck, and possible divine intervention, the lock clicked open with a little ‘pop’ and Keith was inside before anyone could see him. By less luck, and the gods leaving him alone, the place was dark, and smelled of rot. He felt around for a light switch, and considered the lovely possibility that maybe, the Empusa wasn’t home, and had left Shiro and Matt alone there and he could just get them and bring them home and they could all pretend like none of this had happened. After Keith gave Shiro what for for making him worry so much, anyway.

His fingers stumbled upon the switch and once the lights were on he really wished they weren’t. If nothing else, the woman was most certainly not getting her security deposit back. Back to back there was what was left of pair of boys leaning against together on the kitchen floor. This Empusa seemed to have something of a penchant for gore, and had made long cuts all over their bodies to drain them of blood. They were both missing eyes, and one was even missing his jaw. The other only had half his arm, and they both were hollowed out in the middle from what Keith could see. And unfortunately, he would likely never be able to unsee it.

It took years of training and all the will he had not to throw up. He still hoped that he could avoid meeting the Empusa herself, but if worse came to worse he’d be doing the city a great justice in disposing of her. He forced himself to look back at the boys and analyze if there was any chance they had been Shiro and Matt.

He couldn’t stand doing it for long, and luckily, didn’t have to. The pair wasn’t them, one had a high brunette bun, and the other was brightly blonde. Too bright to be Matt. It was a relief if only slightly. He kept his knife in his hand and reminded himself a few times that this was not the only room, and these boys were likely not the only victims.

He pushed on.

He went from the living room-kitchen combo down a little hall to a single bedroom. He pushed the door open slowly, and as quietly as he could. Every little squeak the hinges gave off made his heart beat faster and finally he had it open. The bedroom was mostly clean, though the bed was unmade and some clothes remained on the floor. He kept his visit there brief and thanked the gods that the Empusa didn’t appear to be home. He opened the door to the connected bathroom and was hit again with the thick metallic scent of blood. In the bathtub was another boy, this one however was tied up and appeared to be mostly whole. He was shaking, head bowed and had his back to the door.

“Hey” Keith called softly, “Hey kid, are you alive?”

The boy twisted as far as he could to see Keith, eyes wide and startlingly blue. He had a gag tied around his head, and a nasty looking cut on his cheek. He wriggled desperately, making as much noise as he could and Keith had to shush him before hurrying over. He pulled off the gag and the boy wasted no time, “Thank the _gods_. Are you here to save me? I was really thinking I was going to die here.”

“Well, you’re not, and keep it down.” He went to work untying the boy, doing his best to avoid any of the cuts on him. It seemed the Empusa had already gotten to him once or twice, “Listen, how long have you been here?”

“Only two days, why?” He was crying now, but quietly in a way that made his voice wobbly and made Keith’s heart hurt

“Have you seen anyone else here? Two boys, one tall, Japanese, and muscular and the other average, white, and dirty blonde?”

“No… I saw a pair of boys but…”

Keith understood, “I saw them, don’t worry.”

Once the boy was untied Keith helped him up, putting one arm around him to keep him steady, “Can you walk well enough to get out of here?”

He nodded, “Hold on, my bag should be here. Somewhere close, I promise.”

“Do you really need it, the Empusa could be back any minute-“

“It’s got a gift from Artemis inside it, so yes.”

“ _Fuck”_

“I know. But this apartment isn’t very big right? Not many places it could be hidden.” The boy worked to stand on his own. He wasn’t wearing a shirt revealing the rope burns and cuts the monster had inflicted on him, his jeans were in tact but cut up and bloody, “I’ll check the bedroom, you check the living room.”

For a moment Keith wanted to argue about that, he sure as hell wasn’t getting captured for this boy and if the Empusa came back she’d see him first. He also didn’t like the idea of being anywhere near the pair of boys she’d killed. If it weren’t for the tears in the boy’s big blue eyes and the little pout he wore, Keith would have argued. He found he couldn’t. He wanted to protect the boy. He wanted to keep him safe.

And that was how Keith found himself rifling through an Empusa’s coat closet in the middle of her nest when she arrived home. She was surely pretty, all soft black curls and big brown eyes. Keith was mostly just surprised that no one else could see that she had the body of a snake where her legs should be.

She approached him slowly, smiling brightly, “What are you doing here, darling? It’s not every day I get robbed by someone so…” she looked him over in a way that he assumed should look appreciative. All he saw in her eyes was hunger, “handsome as yourself. I can even forgive you and agree not to call the cops if you stay the night?”

She directed her gaze to his and pressed in closer, her body heat soaking in to him and he moved his hand as slowly as possible to get his knife

Her hand caught his arm, eyes getting sharp “No need for that, sugar. Don’t you want to stay and have a good time?”

“You know,” Keith grit his teeth, hating how close she was, how her eyes would stray to his neck, looking over his pulse no doubt, “You’re really not my type”

He grabbed the hilt of his knife and got ready to grapple her for it when she let go of him. His ears rung, and she dropped to the ground. Her tail curled closer and twitched, blood dripping lazily into her wide open eyes from the hole in her forehead.

“We should move. I don’t know if she’ll regenerate or not” He tore his eyes from the Empusa to look back to the hallway. The boy stood there, backpack in one hand and a blue pistol in the other.

“Why do you have a _gun_?”

“I told you it was a gift from Artemis.” He limped over as quickly as he could and half collapsed into Keith, “Besides, just because we’re children of an ancient religion doesn’t mean I need to tot around a bow and arrow.”

“There’s nothing wrong with bows and arrows” Keith muttered, stumbling a little with the boy’s weight on him. The Empusa groaned and the boy shrieked, firing two more shots into her head before Keith could stop him, “Could you _not_ do that? Everyone on this floor will have heard you by now!”

“Then we should get out of here fast.” He pulled himself away from Keith, standing on his own despite how his legs still looked like they might give out on him. He started toward the door, whole body shaking and pulled it open

“Who said anything about _we_?”

“I did.” The boy stumbled into the hallway towards the elevator and Keith hurried to keep up, “You saved my life. I owe you a debt now.”

“Saved your- Look, I don’t want your life debt, you saved me from the Empusa just now too.  We’re even.”

“Nope. Sorry, can’t accept that. You only needed saving because of me and my bag. I still owe you.” He punched the button for the elevator and leaned heavily against the wall.

Keith became very aware that the stranger was still bloody and shirtless and shed his jacket, “No, you don’t. Because I say you don’t. Put this on, I don’t want people staring at us.”

The boy laughed, “What? Are you ashamed of me?”

He took it anyway, pulling it on with some difficulty. Keith groaned, “Yes, actually. You’re half dead and covered in blood and yet you still somehow have the energy to be annoying.”

“I always have the energy to be annoying.” The boy zipped up the jacket and burrowed into it, no doubt getting his blood all over the soft fabric. He pulled the sleeves over his hands and stuffed them in the pockets, “Besides, As a Demi, I know you feel the need to be a hero. Would you really leave a helpless injured boy all alone after helping him escape death?”

His hair was limp and greasy, and his eyes sunken in, Keith really shouldn’t have felt as inclined to protect him as he was, “How’d you know I’m a Demi?”

The boy gave him an incredulous look, “Between the wicked knife and the fact that you both saved me from an Empusa _and_ knew what she was? You’re not exactly in the closet, dude.” He paused for a long moment, “Hey, by the way, how did you look her in the eyes and not fall for her spell? I thought that always worked for Empusas.”

“She’s a vampiric demon monster not a gorgon.” He pulled the boy into the elevator the moment it opened up, not looking forward to walking by the receptionist once they hit the ground level, “And I don’t know, I don’t think it’s particularly important at this point.”

“I guess…” The boy stayed silent for the duration of the elevator ride, only piping up when they reached the lobby, “My name’s Lance, by the way.”

“Names have power” The moment he said it, he wanted to punch himself in the nose. Instead, he grabbed Lance’s hood and pulled it over his head before leading him out of the apartment complex. He held his breath the whole way, and only let it out once they were safety around the corner, “Mine’s Keith.”

“Names have power” Lance mimicked, and Keith thought he probably deserved it.

He looked too small in that red hoodie, too skinny even though Keith knew he hadn’t been held captive long enough to do too much to his weight, “Here’s the deal. I’ll help you get some clothes and a train ticket and we’ll get you on your way back to wherever you came from and you will leave me alone after that. Okay?”

“Okay!” Lance chirped, “Except not. Here’s what’s gonna happen, I’m going to help you on your quest and once it’s completed then and only then, I’ll leave you alone.”

He was still shaking, and Keith was sure he wouldn’t be standing anymore if not for the fact that he was leaning heavily on the brick wall behind him, “You’re really in no condition to help me, and I don’t have time for you to heal.”

“Nonsense. I’ll be up and ready to go soon, I just need some-“

“No.” Keith stood up straight and stared him down, “You’re not coming.”

“But-“

Keith pulled a couple of bronze pieces out of his bag and gave them to Lance, “Go find a thrift store and get some jeans that aren’t covered in blood. You can keep the jacket.”

He forced himself to turn and leave.

Three blocks later, when he turned back and saw no sign of Lance following, he felt something like relief. Or maybe disappointment. He refused to look that deep into it.

~~

Payphones didn’t take bronze, and thus, Keith was forced to duck in and out of the shops nearby asking for human currency. He went through five shops in twenty minutes, and finally a kind eyed old lady handed him a couple of quarters along with a ten dollar bill. He felt like he could almost cry with relief. He even stood still and endured her cheek pinch in return for her generosity before booking it back to the phone and punching in Pidges number as fast as he could.

She answered on the fifth ring, which made him both fearful that she wouldn’t pick up, and angry that she wasn’t by her phone at all times. He was greeted with a steady stream of keys clacking, “Holt.”

“Pidge” He sighed, “Minor problem. I’m down to bronze and the residents here aren’t particularly… generous with information.”

There was a groan on the other side, and the keys stopped, “Keith, I don’t have the cash to give you just yet. I’m working on a lead on my end. I highly suggest you either become charming or get good at gambling.”

“Can I at least get something of a direction here? I just wasted the last couple hours of my life in an Empusa’s cave.” He leaned back against the payphone and realized just how tired he was. Maybe he could catch a nap somewhere…

“Any leads?” She asked.

“Would I be asking for direction if I had any?” He snapped.

She sighed in a way that made Keith wonder if she was disappointed in him or in the situation as a whole, “Hold on, I’ll try to find you somewhere to rob.”

“ _Pidge_ ”

“ _What_? You need money and you’re likely to have an easier time pickpocketing strangers over making the money honestly. Do you really think you’d have any luck on your own?”

He didn’t, but it was against everything he believed in to let Pidge think she was right, “I can handle it. I just need some addresses for Greek life bars.” He paused, “Also, I’ll be headed your way in a day or two unless I find a lead.”

“I’ll prepare a feast” She murmured, and the sound of clacking started up again.

“How is everything back there?” He wrapped an arm around himself, trying to find some form of comfort from hearing her voice.

“Same as you. I’m low on cash, I’ve been awake for over forty eight hours and if I stop working I’ll just start crying.”

Not the best comfort, but he loved her anyway, “We’ll find them, Kate.”

“I know we will.” She didn’t sound convinced, “I’ve got two more bars in that city, one’s on the nice side of town so make sure you’re not covered in blood when you arrive.”

She listed off addresses, using her overly sarcastic voice to make Keith laugh. They said goodbye and he hung up the phone. There was a stretch of moments where he just stared at it and held his breath.

He was alone again.

“You know, it’s awfully rude leaving a heavily injured person alone to fend for themselves.”

Suddenly he very much missed being alone.

Lance stood next to the payphone, smiling brightly. While it had only been about an hour he already looked much better, having washed the dried blood from his face and hair. He had more than gotten new jeans and had managed to get a pair of shoes and a new shirt as well.

He held out a palm full of bronze to Keith, much more than what Keith had given him before and pushed it into his hands, “Thanks for the loan, I want to pay it back with interest. Oh, and if you thought you could get rid of me that easily, you’re dead wrong.”

Keith groaned, but still pocketed the bronze, “How the hell did you find me?”

“What, you were hiding?” Lance raised an eyebrow at him, and Keith became very aware that if he thought a half dead version of Lance was annoying the alive and well version would be much, much worse, “I spent some time with Artemis and her hunters. She… Tolerates me. Which, I think is the closest she comes to liking anyone who identifies as male. So I can track. Like none other.”

“You tracked me? We’re in a damn city, it’s not like I left footprints you could follow.”

“I have my ways”

“I have a feeling asking what these ‘ways’ are will give me a headache. So let me save us both some time. _I don’t want your life debt_. Get lost.” Keith turned and started walking off, searching for the streets of the first address.

“You seem like you need it, though.” Lance limped as fast as he could to catch up, still apparently injured though he seemed to be doing much better than before, “I may have overheard that you have no money. Look, trust me, I’m useful. You need me.”

“And why, pray tell, is that?” He stopped short and Lance ran into him. He was tired, and all he wanted to was to find Shiro and go home

“My mom, Aphrodite, gave me a gift, one that I think will come in handy for your quest.” His eyes were bright, and far too earnest for any Demi Keith had ever met. Pidge had to be a couple years younger than this guy at _least_ and even she had a better grip on reality than he did, “She gave me the gift of flirting”

He puffed out his chest like it was something to be proud of, and Keith sighed turning and walking away again. The other boy hurried to keep up.

Lance, it seemed, couldn’t take a hint, “Hey! It’s a good thing! I can very easily convince anyone to do what I want because of it. I can flirt anything out of anyone. Anything you want, food, shelter, informa-“

Keith stopped dead again and Lance ran into him. Again. He couldn’t help but think that perhaps the other boy should have seen that coming this time around, “You can get me information?”

“ _Yes_ , Gods, I’m glad you’re starting to get it.” He grinned, and it lit up his whole face

“You can get me information from _anyone_?”

Lance paused for a couple of moments, and looked anywhere but right at Keith, “….Only men, actually.”

“What?”

“My gift, it only works on people who identify as male. Men feel the need to help me and do what I want if I wink or flirt with them but other genders…” He sighed, “It’s still useful to you.”

Keith watched him, inspecting him for any sort of hidden agendas he may have, “Why do you want to help me?”

“Uhm, Life debt remember? Besides, your quest is to find someone, right? It sounds… just and it’s something worth me giving my time to help you” Lance kept his gaze

“How do I know you’re not charming me with this ‘gift’?”

He got a sheepish smile in return for the question, “Because I’ve already been charming you, you’ll know when it’s happening. Why do you think you’ve done some things that aren’t completely logical around me? You’ve probably found yourself thinking about how attractive, or sexy, or lovable I am without really knowing why. Other than the fact that I _am_ in fact attractive, sexy, and lovable.”

Keith grit his teeth and grabbed the front of Lance’s shirt, pulling him away from the wall just enough to slam him back into it, “ _Never_ use this gift on me again. Are we understood? Or so help me I will _find_ an Empusa to feed you to”

Lance’s eyes were wide with fear, and for once the blue in them didn’t look quite so bright or vibrant but… normal. Less noticeable. He just nodded, looking for all the world like a scared kid and for once Keith didn’t feel bad about it.

“You can come with me then. We have some people to question” He let go of Lance’s shirt and stepped back, surprised that he’d actually managed to completely shock the other boy into silence.

Lance just nodded and Keith found himself hyperaware of the other boy for the rest of the night. Even more so, he was very aware of his own emotions. He was convinced by the end of it that he felt nothing for Lance but sympathy and gratitude. The son of Aphrodite had been quiet and awkward for a while after Keith’s outburst, only speaking when it seemed necessary for him to do so. Though, as the night had wore on, Lance went from being quiet and unsure right back to the loud and frankly annoying version of himself that Keith had to admit he was more comfortable with. While he had only known him a couple hours, he knew for a fact that a loud Lance was more predictable than a quiet one. A loud one also had the benefit of his flirting when hanging around in bars.

They didn’t end up getting any new leads on Shiro or Matt, but Lance did manage to get them both a couple of free beers, some ambrosia for his wounds, a plate of nachos, and a cheap motel room. Just the feeling of a hot shower and a place to sleep made him want to cry with joy. It was even worth the smug look on Lance’s face and having to endure the poking fun of, “See? I’m useful!”

It was nice. If nothing else having Lance around meant he wasn’t alone with his thoughts.

He was grateful for that much.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes to Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this new chapter and please let me know about any spelling or grammatical mistakes, as I am unbeta'd. Thank you!

The days with Lance went by faster than the ones without him. The rather rocky start they’d had hadn’t really effected the motor mouth of the son of Aphrodite. This had its own pros and cons, sometimes Lance was actually funny, and entertaining to listen to. If nothing else the constant monologue managed to keep Keith distracted enough from worrying all day and all night about Shiro. Of course, Lance did also have a penchant for being nosy and in the moments Keith wished for silence he could never find it.

The most amazing thing he’d discovered was how someone could talk almost non-stop like Lance did and never say anything important. After a three day monologue he found that all he’d really learned was that Lance’s last name was McClain, that Artemis had banished him from accompanying the hunters due to an incident with some girl named Nyma, and that his gift from his mother had come when he turned eighteen.

Keith thought somewhere in the back of his head that they were more or less even on that front. Lance knew next to nothing about him too. He was most comfortable with that.

“Okay, so now I’m really starting to think you’re getting ready to murder me and dump my body.”

They’d stayed in the motel for only a few nights before Keith decided there was nothing important that they’d find in the city. Unfortunately, the best way to get to Pidge was by car and Keith wasn’t ready to show some stranger that Lance charmed exactly how to get to his home. So that left only the option of walking. Lance had whined for the first hour and only complained with more enthusiasm when Keith snapped at him. It died down closer to their fourth hour, walking along the highway while car after car zoomed by, pushing and pulling Keith’s hair into knots and tangles that he knew he’d have to deal with later.

“The more you talk, the more I consider it.” Keith said. It was meant to be a joke, but he found that more often than not his jokes sounded like threats.

Lance was quiet again, and aside from the buzz of the highway, a comfortable silence fell over them. At least Keith thought it was comfortable.

“Will you at least tell me where we’re going?” He urged, pulling that red hoodie closer around himself and stuffing his hands in the pockets

“To see Pidge.”

“I hate to break it to you, man. But that name sounds fake. I hope this isn’t some stranger you met on the internet or something”

Keith couldn’t help but smile, “Do you mean to tell me that the internet is full of _liars_ Lance? I’m heartbroken.”

Lance watched him with wide eyes, “Did you just make a joke at me?”

“I’ve been joking with you for a couple days now. Have you not noticed?”

“Are you trying to change the subject from this shady figure you apparently met on an internet chat room? Did they send you any pictures of themselves? Are they _too_ attractive? I’m just trying to keep that fragile heart of yours safe, dude”

Keith snorted, “You literally changed the subject first.”

“My point stands.” Lance bumped shoulders with him and Keith shot him a look.

Another thing that Keith had learned was that Lance was extremely tactile. He guessed it was some kind of Aphrodite thing, or maybe even something he picked up with the hunters of Artemis but it was more than a little annoying. “It really doesn’t. Pidge is in fact a fake name, but I’ve known her for a long time and I can promise you she’s not the forty-four year old predator you think she is.” He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to get out some of the smaller knots before they had the opportunity to get worse

Lance watched him, “Why the fake name?”

“She’s been in trouble with some… powerful people before. She has good reason.”

“Is Keith _your_ real name?” For a moment, he was genuinely curious if Lance was fucking with him. Who on earth would have a fake name like Keith?

“I guess you’ll find out.” He bumped shoulders with Lance hard enough to get the other boy to stumble. Lance gave an indignant squawk and Keith couldn’t help but smile.

~

After the sixth hour, and halfway point Keith had been more open to the option of hitchhiking just a part of the way there and walking the rest, just so that they could get back to Pidge and find Shiro faster, obviously. Not because he was tired.

They ended up in the back of a minivan, with four children and two adults that Lance didn’t even have to charm. Though they did have to sit very close, with Lance half in Keith’s lap and one seatbelt pulled over both of them.

He learned the hard way that Lance was _skinny_. With his bony ass digging into Keith’s thigh and frankly sharp elbow burying itself in his side with every little bump in the road.

If he hoped the awkwardness of being in a car full of strangers would quiet the other boy, he was dead wrong. If anything Lance was more talkative, entertaining the children with stories, telling jokes, and even singing songs for them. He braided the hair of the youngest girl and both of the parents chattered with him about who they were and where they were going. He lied, of course. Something about them going to school at an academy in the city and wanting to go home for the weekend.

The woman cooed and mentioned how lucky their parents must be that their boys were so dedicated to getting home and the man scolded them on the dangers of walking along the road and hitchhiking to get where they were going when there were perfectly good buses available.

He wasn’t paying attention to much of it, preferring to look out the window and only answer questions that were directly asked to him.

The parents left them with well wishes, and the children mourned their loss when they were left on the exit to Keith’s town. Finally there were only ten miles left ahead of them. Lance looked sad and Keith tried to not think too much about it

~~

It was past midnight when they arrived, bug lanterns on and porch lights off. Keith expected to ring the bell for hours but Pidge answered in only minutes, wearing only green sweats and her old Star Wars bra that he swore he’d thrown out over a year before.

“I didn’t expect you till tomorrow, how did you get here so quick?”

“It is tomorrow. Lance, this is Pidge, Pidge, Lance.”

They nodded to each other. Keith had discovered along the hike that Lance chattered less and less when he was tired, focusing all his energy into whatever he was doing instead of wasting it talking. So when Pidge showed him the couch, the son of Aphrodite was on it and asleep before Keith could get back to his room.  
~

In the morning, He found that Lance had woken up early and made pancakes. He’d also made coffee, which Keith was sure Pidge would appreciate when she got up.

He hoped that she had gotten at least a little sleep that night.

“Sleep well?” As always Lance was too chipper, flashing teeth in his smile and letting his blue eyes shine like Keith would be put under his spell.

“Better than in that motel” He murmured, Finding frozen blueberries and honey to lavish on the breakfast Lance had already made.

“Dude, your shitty couch is better than that motel. At least I’m not hyperaware I’m sleeping on layers of dried cum.” Lance took his coffee with milk and sugar and frankly, Keith was amazed Pidge had been to the store recently enough that their milk wasn’t solid.

“Right?” He found himself saying, just happy to have coffee in his grasp in the first place

“I have a lead!” Pidge announced, stomping into the kitchen with her laptop like the heathen she was, “I know what they were going to study!”

Keith sat up and Lance turned from the pan he’d been focusing on all morning, “Well?”

“They were trying to get DNA samples from Kerberos!”

Keith frowned, and to his surprise it was Lance who spoke up, “Kerberos? Like Cerberus? As in the dog that guards the underworld?”

Pidge just nodded and Keith groaned, “We’re going to the underworld? That sounds like a terrible idea.”

“Oh it is. Unfortunately it seems like the underworld is your best bet though.” She was wearing what she had worn when she let them in, and she had helped herself to the entire plate of pancakes that Keith hadn’t already eaten.

“Hey, I’m Pidge by the way.” She dug in, and took the rest of the pot of coffee, drinking right out of it before Keith cold really protest.

“You met him last night, don’t you remember?” He drank the rest of his own coffee and was amazed to see Lance successfully steal one of Pidge’s pancakes without losing any part of his hand

“Did we? Sorry, I’ve been awake for a long time. Anything non-mission related from the last two days is pretty much gone.” She dug in and Keith rubbed his eyes

“You’re going to bed after this.”

“You’re not my _real_ mom.” She finished the pot of coffee as if to prove her point

Keith snorted and Lance looked amused, “Are you siblings?”

Keith said no at the same time Pidge said yes and they looked at each other with frustration

“We’re not technically related” Pidge amended, and sat back in her seat, playing with a loose thread on her bra, “But we may as well be family.”

“Her _real_ brother is one of the ones that’s missing right now, along with _my_ brother.”

“Half-Brother” Pidge added and Keith shot her a look

“Are you a Demi?” Lance turned his interest on her.

“Mm” Pidge slid out of her chair and moved back into the kitchen to make another pot of coffee, “Daughter of Athena”

“Athena and Ares? Sounds like you guys must get along great.” He grinned, “It’s so strange that you like technology so much. Usually I only see Demi’s shunning new age things.” It was true enough. Keith himself still tended to avoid anything more advanced than a television, and much to Pidges dismay steered clear of any kind of cell phone.

“And they’re stupid” She added succinctly. Keith couldn’t help but feel a little hurt.

Lance was still smiling brightly thought, “So how the hell are we getting to hell?”

“That’s where my information stops” She sat on the counter and swung her legs back and forth, “Most myths suggest that you just kind of…find an entrance, or that Hermes leads you there.”

Lance straightened up, “I might know someone who can help. Two someones, actually.”

Pidge and Keith exchanged a glance. It wasn’t uncommon for Demi’s to mistrust one another, and if not for Lance seeming mostly harmless Keith would never have brought him into his home, or near his only remaining friend. Demi’s tended to create small families with one another, sometimes brothers and sisters, and sometimes just a cluster of friends who learned to face the world together. It was hard not to, with a real world full of mythic danger. However, it turned out that often, the sins of the parent were the sins of the child, and many would bring old grudges into new generations. A son of Hephaestus had left a scar across Shiro’s face due to an ancient affair between Ares and his father’s wife, Aphrodite. Every once in a while, a Demi joined a family just to rob them blind and take them out. It wasn’t uncommon and thus, prudent to be careful.

Lance’s face fell when he saw the look they shared, “What? You don’t trust me?”

It hung for a moment and Pidge looked like she might try to keep some semblance of peace-

“Do you blame us?” It came out of his mouth before he could stop it, “I mean, Pidge has known you for like half an hour, and I’ve only known you a couple days. You have manipulating powers, and you’re so interested in helping that-“

“That _what_? You’re willing to pass up the fact that I _can help_ because you’re a paranoid couple of shut aways? Is this really because of my _flirting_?” Lance scowled at him, and it was the first time he’d really seen the boy look angry

“We’re being _cautious_ , something you obviously have no grasp of, or I wouldn’t have found you in an Empusa’s _bathtub”_ He rose and got close enough to Lance to provide a warning. Calm down, or leave.

“You are _ridiculous_!” He’d stepped back when Keith got closer, then stopped, as if he had to remind himself to stand his ground, “You can sit here and twiddle your thumbs on the pros and cons of trusting me, but your brothers are going to _die_ because you were too scared to act!”

Sometimes, Shiro would worry that Keith acted to quickly and thought about what he did when it was too late to change anything. For the most part Keith agreed, though among the two of them, Shiro had taken the brunt of the consequences for all of both of their decisions. From Keith’s frankly atrocious pick-pocket skills to Shiro trying time after time to take in stray Demi’s who needed a home, and a family. Shiro was always the one who got burned, and he was always the one to come back kinder and more empathetic because of it. Keith had always wanted to be more like Shiro, but found he couldn’t kick the old habit of being short-tempered and impulsive. Shiro would have given Lance time to cool off, and talked it out with him later.

Keith was, unfortunately, not Shiro

He snapped at that moment and threw the first punch, which hit Lance in the jaw and left the kitchen in thirty seconds of heavy silence before the boy launched himself at him. The blur of a fight began and something in Keith relaxed while everything else became tense. They grappled for only a moment before Lance managed to knock him to the ground, head hitting the tile in a way that had supernovas behind Keith’s eyes and a strike to the gut which had him gasping for air. He pulled one of his legs out from under Lance’s body and managed to kick the boy off him.  After another punch and a flash of skin and stars he found himself being blocked from getting to the son of Aphrodite, Pidge standing between them.

“What the _fuck_ ” It shouldn’t have been threatening from a sleep deprived girl a head shorter than him, wearing her brothers old glasses because she missed him, but he shrunk back, “do _not ever_ fight in the kitchen. The kitchen is holy ground, and will be treated with _respect_. And as much as I’d love to watch you both try to kick one another’s asses we have a _bigger issue_ ”

He looked around her to Lance, who was cradling his jaw in his hand, lip split and eye beginning to bruise. He looked like he wanted to leave, but in order to get out of the house he’d have to get around Pidge, which seemed… less than worth it, at that point.

“Both of you sit the fuck down, and Lance,” she turned to him, “You know someone who can get us to the underworld? Tell me who they are.”

“This…” Lance looked incredibly uncomfortable, “I met a girl not long ago who’d been to the underworld once. She’d know how to get there.”

“Why exactly was she going to the underworld” Keith piped up, apparently having learned no lesson from openly distrusting Lance before.

“That’s her business, if she wants to tell you she can. I can assure you that she’s trustworthy though” Lance sent him a new glare, and straightened up, though Keith could see some blood pooling in the boy’s palm

“ _Stop._ Okay, contact her and tell her we need help.” Pidge gave Keith a look that was tired and worn thin, “we’re too desperate to stay distrustful, he’s right about that. But.” She didn’t turn back to Lance, but raised her voice, talking to him, “If you hurt my friend I will find you and I will _ruin_ you.”

“Noted” Lance murmured and Keith nodded

“So… How are we going to get there?”

~

That was how Keith ended up sitting in the back of the car of some college frat boy who was flirting adamantly with Lance. The drive would be over an hour and a half and Keith wouldn’t have minded the silence if there was any silence to be found.

No, he had to sit and listen to Lance’s magic work. He’d noticed that from the outside, Lance wasn’t actually all that good at flirting. All stupid finger guns and cheap lines and compliments that he could swear had been lifted straight out of some sitcom. It was a thing to behold to see boys go practically heart eyed over him when all he had was the skill and confidence of a middle schooler. Then again, it had worked on him too, so… He had to give it some kind of credit.

Regardless Lance kept a pretty constant conversation with the boy, talking about space and brotherhood, and even delving into some philosophy that Keith wanted nothing to do with. Instead he went ahead and read every sign they passed, trying to drown out the noise of Lance laughing at something the boy said.

It sort of worked.

If he pretended hard enough.

~

After a little over two hours they were back to walking, and unfortunately, Lance wasn’t talking to him which was somehow more disturbing than Lance talking non-stop to a frat boy who he’d bewitched. There was no complaining, no chatter, no nothing. Just their feet against the dirt by the road.

Keith had mostly gotten over it already. His temper cooled as fast as it had flared. He was upset with himself for a while for starting a fight during such a desperate time, then upset with Lance for holding onto the anger he had long after the two of them had exchanged blows. While Keith’s anger seemed like a fire, quick to start and quick to be put out, Lances was steady and likely to stay the way it was if nothing was done. He managed to convince himself for over an hour of walking that he would outlast Lance. Keep quiet. He had been in the right, and it was only a matter of time before the son of Aphrodite got tired and admitted that fact.

So he waited and waited.

The silence grew uncomfortable and suffocating by the second hour and finally he spoke up, “So, how close are we?”

“Not far now. Half a mile maybe.” Lance said coolly.

He was quiet for another couple minutes, feeling awkward and upset all over again about how juvenile Lance was being. A voice that sounded suspiciously like Shiro suggested that he take the high road.

“How did you meet her?”

He got a glare, “She helped me out of a jam a while ago. I stayed with her for a week or so before going on my way.”

“That was vague.” Keith murmured

“I guess one keeps things to themselves when they aren’t trusted.”

“ _Lance_. When will you-“

“Oh look. We’re here.”  He pulled them to a stop in front of a rather lavish looking house. There were big curling gates guarding a lush green lawn and Keith was appalled to see Lance push right through them like they hadn’t been locked at all. He swaggered right to the front door, not waiting at all and Keith had to jog to keep up with him before the boy opened the door with absolutely no prelude

“Allura!” He called, voice bouncing around the cavernous foyer and leaving Keith feeling exposed and vulnerable. There was a long pause, and Lance stepped forward “Allura! It’s Lance!”

“Lance?” Keith jumped right out of his skin, knife in hand with the emblem on it glowing brightly. A man had appeared just around one of the corners, or, mostly a man. As he came further into view it became clear that his legs were not that of a man, and that where the hem of his shirt ended, the body of a lightly colored horse came into view, “Your face-“

“Coran!” Lance exclaimed, cutting him off before he could finish and running to the centaur. He threw his arms around him, “It’s been so long! How are you? Have you invested in better horseshoes yet?”

The man, Coran, laughed loudly and accepted the hug with grace, “I’m Fantastic dear boy! And absolutely not! Have you ever tried to barter with a human? It is nearly impossible!”

Lance grinned, moving back, “Have you tried human money?”

“Nonsense! How is human money better than my cooking?” He looked genuinely upset and shocked and Keith had to do his very best not to start laughing. “I mean-“

Lance interjected easily, “Is Allura here? We need to talk to her.”

“Well, yes.” Most of the cheer drained from Coran’s face, “She’s writing to him, again.”

At this the son of Aphrodite seemed to deflate a little, “That’s… a little of why we’re here, actually…”

The centaur sighed and straightened out his shirt, “Alfor is gone, if he’s who you want to talk to. If that’s what you’re here for I can’t help you and I can’t have anyone encouraging her at this point.”

Coran had done a complete one eighty. His smile had faded completely, like some of the vibrancy had drained from him all together. Where before he had always been moving in some form now he had fallen still. Looking almost… militant.

“That’s not it at all.” Lance’s hands went up, innocent but also… serious, “We need to know how she gets into the underworld. Keith here-“He stepped aside to gesture, “His brothers went missing a little while ago on a research trip and we’re trying to find them.”

Coran looked and seemed to focus on Keith for the first time, “Hello! Sorry, it’s terrible of me to not introduce myself! I’m Coran, centaur and Advisor of Allura Altean, Daughter of Zeus.”

Keith frowned, he had sworn Lance had mentioned her father being dead, “Keith Kogane, Son of Ares.”

They shook hands, something Keith had only done a few times and frankly it was surreal. Lance seemed happier as Coran seemed more at ease, “Can we talk to Allura?”

“You’re asking permission?” A woman stood at the very top of the stairs, and Keith couldn’t help but feel his breath taken away. She was beautiful, long silvery hair that she must have dyed cascading down her back and rich dark skin, “Who are you and what have you done with Lance?”

“Allura!” He brightened, “My Gods, you’ll have to tell me how you dull the stars with your glow. Would you perhaps want-“

“Absolutely not” she seemed amused until she really saw his face, then Keith’s face, “What happened?”

“What do you mean?” He chirped like nothing, going to the stairs and heading up to her, “All I want to happen is my future with you”

“You know what I mean. Did something attack the pair of you?” She touched his jaw gently and moved his face side to side when he got to her, looking from the black eye Keith gave him to the split lip and even the days old scabs from the Empusa, “You look like hell.”

“You know I love it when you curse” Lance hummed, but pulled her hand off his face, “Keith and I had a run in with an Empusa. She’s dead, but she got the best of me for a couple days”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. I have some ambrosia you can use for the wounds. You’ll have to tell me all about the Empusa and your new friend.” She winked and Lance laughed before elbowing her. Keith felt his face burn, frustration rising in his chest. He let Coran lead him to the kitchen.

Within ten minutes, he had a cup of tea, in a dainty teacup on a saucer in front  him and Lance was recounting his and Keith's escape from the Empusa’s lair with such wide dramatic jesters that he’d almost hit the son of Ares in the face twice. Allure seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself and Coran was even more expressive than the son of Aphrodite was.

Keith was quiet, drinking his cup of tea in little sips throughout the tale and keeping his growing frustration to himself. Lance had yet to mention the situation at hand in favor of a time wasting tea party and finally as the story placed the two of them in the kitchen with Pidge he slapped a hand on the table, “Allura” he hissed softly, “my brother is missing. I have reason to believe he’s alive in the underworld and reason to believe you know how to get there. Now this is all great and if you’d like to keep Lance and chat all day then you can, but I should be going.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at him, all his resentment flooding back and Keith did his best to ignore him

Allura was the one to speak next, “Of course.”

She looked a little guilty, and a little insulted, “I can tell you how to get there, but you must do something for me if you’re going to go.”

Keith saw Coran and Lance exchange a glance out of the corner of his eye and had a hard time believing Allura didn’t see it too, “What do you need?”

“Just carry a letter for me.”

Coran opened his mouth and before the centaur could say anything Keith interjected, “Deal.”

~

She’d done even more than just tell him where to go. She made them stay the night, and after over an hour of arguing Keith begrudgingly agreed to go to bed. They set out in the morning. Coran stayed at the house even though it seemed he really didn’t want to. It would be faster without him, Keith had reasoned too himself, since his horse body wouldn’t fit in the car.

It was still awful seeing how worried he was as they drove away.

Allura drove them for just a little over an hour before dropping them off in a field. She gestured to the far end where a large boulder protruded from the expanse of soft violet flowers

“That’ll get you in.” The wind blew her hair back softly, like the breeze wanted to greet her. Keith thought for a moment she really did look like she should be standing in a Greek myth, with a long white gown and power over the wide blue sky and stars. She sighed, “Once you get down there, you’ll need money to get you in. Do _not_ drink from any of the rivers. Find my father and give him this”

She gave him a little envelope, stamped shut with wax and with the word Alfor written across the front in elegant lettering.

“As if we’d be so dumb” Lance was all smiles again, but something was off, just an imitation of the real thing that Keith had seen almost constantly since meeting the son of Aphrodite. The first hour arguing with Allura had been followed up by another twenty minutes fighting with Lance about them continuing to travel together. Lance had proclaimed that he only wanted Keith to be safe and find his brother, trust or no trust and Keith had said that he didn’t seem to act like it and neither of them had apologized for anything. It seemed counter productive, but Keith felt like something had eased in them both by morning. Lance finally seemed to have given up on being upset and had even cracked a joke at him over what little breakfast they could stomach.

It was such a relief that he cracked a little smile, and Lance beamed twice as bright as usual.

“I have to expect the worse you know. Especially with all this _Empusa_ business! I have a mind to lock you in the house and never let you into the world to be the trouble-magnet you are!”

“Is that a threat or a promise” He winked and she groaned. Keith found himself surprised anyone could stand to be around Lance for more than a few days at least.

“A threat.”

“Noted.”

He tried to look apologetic and Keith could see that Allura wasn’t buying it for a moment. She did, however press a gold coin into his palm, “Take care of each other, okay?”

“Okay” they said together. Lance whipped his head to the side to look at Keith so fast, he thought just seeing it might give him whiplash.

“Any other tips or tricks for Hell?”

“Don’t eat anything? That much is pretty obvious, though. If you encounter Hades, you _might_ be able to make a deal with him, but don’t forget how fickle the gods can be.

He nodded and Lance pulled at his own clothes anxiously, “Wish us luck?” this came out quieter than anything Lance usually said. It was vulnerable and targeted at Allura who softened

“Luck.”

Keith looked between them before giving Allura a respectful nod and turning to Lance. He looked afraid, but his eyes were determined.

“Ready?” He asked softly

“Why, are you scared?” And any semblance of a moment was ruined. He earned a grin though, a real one, and Lance gave Allura a hug before the two of them turned and headed for the boulder.

~

The road to hell was not nearly as long or interesting or morbid as Keith had been lead to believe all his life. They made it to the bottom of a set of stone stairs in about a half hour and nearly the whole way there Lance chattered. Not complaining for once, but just… talking. He seemed nervous and Keith found the really couldn’t blame him. It filled the little stairway with the blue he so associated with Lance. Bright and pulsing and alive. As much as it reminded him of Lance, it also set his teeth on edge and made him fidgety.

Which was…something like poetic he guessed

The last stair went straight into a river, the water was dirty and dark and he could see things darting around in the murk but had no desire to find out what they could be.

The boat was there, with a hollow eyed man standing in the back, holding onto the stick that steered the vessel through the water, “Fair.”

It was a statement, not a question.

The both of them pulled gold pieces out of their pockets and handed them to the man, who took them without looking directly at them. His fingers seemed more like skin wrapped over bone. Like if Keith pulled just hard enough, the skin would break and he’d have a section of the man’s finger. The man nodded solemnly and Lance stepped onto the boat first, gripping his backpack straps tight enough to make his knuckles white.

Keith stepped on next and behind them a middle aged woman handed some form of currency to the man and stepped on as well. They set off. Lance and Keith sat next to one another on the little benches, knees and shoulders touching.

“Have a pair of boys come through here? A son of Athena and a son of Ares?” he looked back at the man steering the boat, whose dead eyes met his for only a moment before moving back up to the river ahead of them, “they’d be living. Like us” He gestured to Lance and himself, “Hello?” He added angrily after a long moment

“I don’t think he’s gonna talk to us, Keith” The other boy murmured softly, putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder and adding, “Calm down, we’ll either find them at the gates or we’ll head inside and ask around.”

Any and all fight drained from him, and he nodded just a little. Was that Lance’s manipulation…? He couldn’t bring himself to care. The ride was silent, and Keith looked around. As far as they’d gone, it was just cave walls and black water, full of… something. He didn’t really want to think about it too hard.

While he stayed quiet Lance did bounce his leg, hands very pointedly resting on his knees rather than hugging himself with them. Keith felt the same, the warmth soaking into him from where he and Lance touched almost making up for the oppressive coldness of the underworld.

The cave opened up, marshy lands surrounding the river looking just as dead and wilted as he’d expected. There was a black fence, ornately decorated running along the bank of the river, and beyond it only more of the same.

Lance shivered against his shoulder and pulled his jacket around him tighter, “From what I’ve heard from Allura” He murmured, “Alfor should be somewhere just past Cerberus. Not that it matters, I could dump her letter in the Styx for all the good it does.”

He felt a pang, but knew what Lance meant. The dead had at all at some point drank from the river Lethe. The water hollowed them out. Dragged all memories from their minds until they didn’t have any semblance of who they were, “We gave her our word.”

“I’m not saying we don’t deliver it I’m just… It’s sad, is all. That she misses her dad so much to keep giving letters to a man who is just… a shell of who Alfor was.”

“You met him?” Keith looked over, pleased that Lance had stopped fidgeting

“No, but I’ve heard stories… All kinds of stories” He said it in a way that suggested he wasn’t up for elaboration.

They were quiet for a while, twiddling their thumbs.

When conversation started again, it was Keith who spoke, “So, question. This is for Allura’s father… Is it her adopted father?”

Lance gave him a strange look, “No. why?”

“Well if this Alfor is her father… and Zeus is her father…” He looked over, frowning

Lance let out a little snort, “No, they’re both biological fathers. You really doubt that it could happen? With all the mythology behind _Zeus_ ”

“I guess”

The boat stopped suddenly, water splashing around them. The man steering didn’t look at them, hollow eyes trained on the river ahead of him. Lance was out of the boat first, just as fast as when he’d hopped in, and Keith was fast on his heels. The fence gave way to a gate, tall and curving and just beyond it a bustle of life… kind of. Those behind it moved sluggishly and without purpose. In front of the gate stood a dog, larger than life and bearing three heads. It’s eyes remained trained on them. He scanned the spirits around the gate for Shiro or Matt, and sighed softly, “I don’t see them”

“I’m sorry…Did you have a plan for any of the rest of this…?” Lance whispered, leaning close to Keith while keeping his eyes on Cerberus.

“I was going to… uhm… ask it if it’s seen Shiro?” Even as it came out of his mouth he knew how stupid it sounded.

Lance agreed, “…Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t think it can _speak_ , Keith”

“I’m sorry do you have _another_ plan?”

The woman behind them gave a little huff, and the two of them had to scramble out of the way so she could step off the boat. They both watched her go to the beast.

“We have to get inside somehow…We can’t trick it” Lance mused, “And I don’t think we can sneak in. Orpheus played music to lull it to sleep, right?”

“Yeah…” Keith looked over at him, frowning, “Neither of us have a musical instrument _or_ Orpheus level talent”

“Excuse you. I’m a musical genius.” Keith gave him a disbelieving look and Lance groaned, “Fine! It’s my only decent plan. Singing is all we have outside of engaging in the suicide mission that sneaking in would be.”

“Fine” he hissed back, “What are you going to do, _sing?_ ”

Lance’s eyes lit up, he straightened out his shirt and strode forward just fast enough that Keith’s first grab to stop him missed. He hurried to keep up just as the son of Aphrodite started to sing, loudly and….admittedly well, in Spanish.

Cerberus watched him, tilting its head and letting its large black eyes bore into Lance. It was a tense exchange and Keith kept his hand on his knife for the likely possibility of the beast just lunging at them.

It laid down, eyes still focused on the boy but every time Lance inched toward the gate it let out a low rolling growl.

The boat stopped behind them again, and a woman with what looked like a newborn baby in her arms got off and moved right through the gate without Cerberus giving her a single look. Its eyes began to droop, blinks getting longer and longer until they didn’t open again.

Lance fell silent and looked back, blue eyes big and grinning so wide Keith could count his teeth, “My voice is as pretty as Orpheus’s lyra.”

“Or any music puts the dog to sleep. C’mon before it wakes up.” He grabbed the other boy by the arm and pulled him forward, skirting around the form of the sleeping beast and moving as fast as he could into the fields.

“…Isn’t this weird?” Lance asked, once they’d moved much closer to the fields of spirits and away from Cerberus

“What? That we’re in actual hell?”

“No, no, the lack of people. We only saw what, two, three, people on that boat? Don’t way more people than that die every minute?” He looked sort of sad, and Keith forced himself to keep his eyes forward, on the spirits that grew ever closer

“I heard once, from a daughter of Hades, that time is different here. It slows down so much that years here may only be a few minutes in the mortal realm.”

Death is eternal, and life is fleeting is what she’d said, eyes dead and arms scratched to ribbons under her nails. Her feet had been bare. It was a weird detail to remember. Even more than her miserable words, and bloody fingers when he remembered her all he really saw was her tiny dirty feet, calloused and cut up.

“So nothing will be different when we come back?” Lance asked

“I don’t think so, no.” He looked back up and scanned the crowd for any sign of Allura’s father, or Shiro, or Matt or _anyone_ they were looking for when he caught sight of her. Black hair cut short and face just as sweet and loving as he remembered it. He stopped dead in his tracks and Lance looked back at him concerned,

“Keith? Buddy?”

_Mother_

He didn’t think about Lance or their mission or anything else. He bolted.


	3. Chapter 3

_Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom-_

His vision had tunneled to only the sight of his mother. Her silky black hair cut just above her shoulders, the moles on her face he’d made constellations out of as a child-

“Keith!” He was stopped, a hand like a vice around his wrist and the strange feeling of his arm being jerked in its socket, “Keith you can’t- Listen _please_ -“

It was Lance, he was pretty sure it was Lance but he really didn’t care. He’d already tuned him out, eyes on his mother who was only some… _gods_ only some fifty feet away. He pulled on his arm hard, determined to pull Lance along if the son of Aphrodite refused to let go of him

“Mom!” He called, and even though she was looking right at him, there was no familiarity in her expression. Some confusion and interest, sure, but even still her eyes seemed unfocused. Like she was watching the scene in a dream

He finally pulled his arm from Lance’s grip and went running again, closing the gap between them and putting his hands on her shoulders. He was taller than her now. It made his heart ache, “Mom, mom, I’ve missed you so much, we- Shiro and me, we-“

She looked frightened, backing up, “You must be mistaken”

“Mistaken? No, mom, don’t you recognize me? It’s me, it’s Keith-“

“I don’t know any Keith, I don’t have any children” she spoke louder, and pulled her shaking hands to her chest, “Don’t hurt me, I don’t know you”

He felt a jolt of pain through him, so powerful that for a moment he thought that he’d been struck by an arrow, or perhaps run through with a sword but when he checked there was nothing there. Only a sort of misery that came with watching his mother slip away from him _again_ , “But mom…”

“Keith” It was Lance again, his hand on the son of Ares’s shoulder, “I tried to tell you, the river Lethe… No one here is going to remember the living”

He shrugged off the touch, and ignored Lance, “Please, mom, you have to remember. Remember the pond by our home? Or- or the time we went to the mountains and drove around all day until it started to snow? You have to remember Shiro, the little black haired boy with one arm? The one who thanked you every night and made breakfast after I burned it the first time and-“

“I don’t know you” She repeated, moving even further back, “I’m sorry, I don’t know you. You’re looking for someone else. Please don’t cry”

Cry? Was he crying? He touched his face and felt the damp trails going down his cheeks and for one crazy moment he thought he might just start laughing at the absurdity of just how much the gods hated him.

“Keith, buddy, we have a problem” Lance was touching him again, tugging his arm away from his mother. Finally, Keith looked over at him, eyes sharp and misery evolving into anger.

“ _What_ Lance? Can’t you shut up for _once in your life_ and let me _try_ to help her remember?” Lance gave him a hurt look, and Keith tried not to think about the fact that he was likely burning bridges faster than he could build them.

“Oh, that certainly won’t work. She’s been dead far too long to get any of those old memories back” And behind Lance stood a fairly unassuming middle aged man. His eyes were dark and amused through a pair of thin reading glasses.

“Who are you?” He stepped around the son of Aphrodite to look up at the man and put his hand on his knife just in case

The man just laughed, “Why, that’s awfully rude to say to someone in their own home. Perhaps your father never taught you manners?”

He moved around Keith like he wasn’t afraid and looked at the emblem on the blade, “Ares? Of course you behave like a barbarian. No matter.” He snapped his fingers and the knife was gone.

“Wh-“

“You’ll get that back when you’ve learned to behave. Now, come along. I have a number of questions about how in _hell_ you ended up in hell.” The man turned and started walking away like he was absolutely positive that Keith and Lance would follow. He was already on Keith’s shit list and if not for the fact that he was reasonably sure that the man was Hades he would have tried to fight his way out of the situation. Lance started following and gave Keith’s arm a harder yank.

For once, Keith shut up and decided to follow.

Hell itself was still fairly…. Underwhelming. Aside from the bad lighting and the fact that everyone around them appeared to be spacing out in different directions it seemed normal. The plants weren’t dead, but they weren’t alive either, growing in a strange muted shade of their usual colors, and the water was mostly the same aside from the colors of opaque white or dark black that they seemed to be.

As they went the crowds thinned out, and grassy fields gave way to hard black stone. The man picked his way across them easily, as if he wasn’t wearing loafers and slacks even as Keith felt his ankles bend and strain to keep him from falling onto the rocks.

“I think he’s Hades.” Lance whispered to him, unhelpfully

“Oh do you?” Keith snapped and instinctively put his hand where his knife should have been, feeling only a pang of loss when it wasn’t there. Just another thing that he loved with all his being that had been taken from him and He knew he deserved it.

He wondered briefly if maybe he’d deserved to lose his mother and Shiro too.

“Calm _down_. We’re never going to get out of this alive if you let your hot head rule all of your actions, man. Take some deep breaths and help me think of a way that we can use this all to our advantage.” Lance was staring right at the back of the man’s head, blue eyes sharp and calculating

Keith watched him for a moment, “Okay. Any ideas?”

“One long shot, but it won’t work unless Persephone shows up.” His hands were stuffed deep into the pockets of Keith’s old hoodie and for one crazy moment the son of Ares was drawn back to the thought that Lance had actually kept the blood stained jacket, “So best if we don’t plan for that. As it is, if it’s Hades, he can be reasoned with. Remember Orpheus? We just need to appeal to his good side. No weapons, no magic, just good old fashioned diplomacy.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly a peacemaker.”

“I’ve noticed. Leave the talking to me.” He rolled his shoulders and looked over to Keith for a moment, “I don’t blame you for getting emotional back there. It’s okay.”

“I don’t need your pity” He hissed, trying to find the anger in him to drown out the sadness

“I’m not giving it. But I am giving options. Look, your mom is gone.” Lance looked him in the eyes, “But Shiro isn’t. If you want to find him you’ve got to focus on getting any information we can out of Hades peacefully and quickly.”

“Okay. So you talk and I…?”

“Look remorseful and tired.” Lance said

“Since when were you so logical and full of wisdom?” He felt sort of foolish, looking at the boy who he’d assumed to be an airhead talking him through a strategy

“Seriously? You haven’t noticed how brilliant I am?” Lance stood straighter and preened a little jokingly and once again the son of Aphrodite had managed to single handedly ruin a moment in two sentences or less.

“Yeah sure… And hey. I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

The man came to a set of stairs going up to the doors of a castle and shot them a smile, “Almost there. You’ll forgive me for eavesdropping but well, it’s quite hard not to hear you when you’re walking right behind me. You have a missing person?”

He started up the stairs and Keith felt a little like a scolded child, “I do. My brother is missing…”

He went for the remorseful and tired look even though the man wasn’t even looking at him, “How tragic! I would love to trade you, have your brother back for one of mine to go missing but we can’t all be so lucky can we?”

The hot anger rose up again and he very nearly said something before Lance put a hand on his arm, shaking his head just a little. He took a breath, “No. We can’t. We were hoping to talk to you about all this-“

“Later, later.” The man waved his hand, “for now, why don’t you both go get changed? I’ll have rooms and clothes sent to you immediately and we’ll discuss business over dinner.

~

They were separated, pointedly. Like Hades knew they were weaker apart than together. Keith was led to a beautiful room, with a bed that looked softer than any he’d ever slept on. He was offered a chance to wash off and change into new clothes. The shirt and pants were pressed and black, and while normally Keith wouldn’t have particularly minded wearing them, the idea of accepting anything from Hades worried him. He hoped Lance was faring well, and that they weren’t treating him badly, though he strongly doubted that there was any real abuse going on.

He was forced to stay in the room for a small eternity, worrying about his mom, Shiro, Pidge, Lance…

And finally a boy came to get him, he opened the door and ducked his head and gestured for Keith to follow him, and regardless of the fact that he hadn’t actually changed or washed off he went with him.

Lance was waiting at the table with Hades, Having changed clothes, but refusing to leave the red hoodie behind. The man looked at least a little upset, but not quite offended, “Clothes not to your liking, Son of Ares?”

“No, no, I just feel more comfortable in this.” He took his seat and made eye contact, never the one to show weakness.

“Well. We have a lovely feast to eat to go along with our conversation. Tell me. Did you come here for your mother?”

Lance kept his head bowed, hands in his lap. He didn’t make any move to eat anything that was on his plate so Keith didn’t either. He knew the stories.

“Absolutely not. We’re here because we heard that my brother and a friend may have… visited recently.” He was very thirsty, but didn’t reach for the water he knew he would find in the goblet in front of him, “He should still be alive.”

“And you mean to tell me that not only two, but _four_ living beings made their way into the underworld without my knowing? Now that’s just insulting.”

“Not necessarily into the underworld.” Lance piped up, “Just to Cerberus.”

“Cerberus?” He narrowed his eyes at Lance and Keith was overcome with the need to help him

“Yes, actually. My brother and our friend had been working on a biological research mission about Cerberus. I doubt they would have entered the Underworld, but we wanted to check all our bases-“

“So you came into the realm of the dead, just _hoping_ that perhaps your friends would be here? So you could all leave and live happily ever after?” He didn’t appear to be angry, just amused, “You thought you could just enter and leave without any consequences?”

Keith opened and closed his mouth, not actually having anything to say to that. Tt _was_ what he’d hoped would happen, but now he was beginning to see how childish it sounded.

Lance interrupted, “Sir, with all due respect we didn’t want to undermine your authority, only to come to the gates, have a look and go. Everything after that was unplanned, and we’re very sorry for it.”

“Mmmm. So what? Now you just want me to let you go?” the man ate slowly, not bothering to look up at them, “Just like that? I’m afraid not. Though I think I wouldn’t mind making a deal with you.”

“A deal-“Lance began, incredulous

“Not you.” the man did look up now, eyes locking onto Keith’s, “You. I’ll make a deal with you.”

His breath hitched, and he looked over to Lance to find that the other boy wasn’t looking at him at all, just watching Hades like he’d disappear if he looked away.

After a long moment he nodded, “Okay, what’s your deal?”

“I have two trades for you. One for information, and the other for life.” The man sat back again, “you have much more to gain than you have to lose I assure you. So long as you chose correctly you’ll get those you love by your side.”

He frowned, “and are these trades going to be done in _riddles_ ”

Hades laughed, “No, no. Not in the least. But I need your word before you start that you’ll make your choice for the trades you’re offered.”

Again he looked at Lance, and again he found that the other boy was focused somewhere else, “I promise to choose.”

“Brilliant.” Hades stood, adjusting his glasses and moving around the table, “First, for information. I can either tell you all I know about any living beings that have recently come to the underworld, including a pair of boys _or_ I can give your mother her memories back.”

“So you know about other living people coming to the Underworld?” He asked

“No questions. Make your choice.”

Keith let out a shaky breath. Possible information that _could_ lead him to Shiro and Matt, or a guarantee that his mother would remember him. But even then she’d be stuck in the Underworld… And there was no promise that she’d even keep those memories. With the river Lethe so close…

“I want the information you have on living beings that have come to the underworld.” He decided quietly and heard Lance give a sigh of relief.

Hades chuckled, “Very foolish. Have you not considered that the only pair of living boys that have recently visited the underworld have been you both?”

Lance’s eyes got wide and finally he looked over at Keith. They were both ready to argue when the man started to laugh again, “Calm down. That was just a little trick, though you should be more careful with choices like that. I do have the information you want. Two boys did come here not long ago, not more than a few days if I remember correctly.”

Keith nodded, trying to temper his anger, “and then? Do you know where they went or what happened to them?”

“Patience. A third boy came after them. Led them out the way he’d came. Cerberus was awfully upset that his playmates had left so soon.” Keith watched the man eat, taking his time. The longer he watched the hungrier he felt. It hadn’t been horribly long since the last meal he’d had either, just hours before honestly but…

No. No. He knew better. Eat the food of the Underworld and you never got to leave. He looked across the table to Lance who… seemed to be having similar thoughts

“Do you know anything more? About the boy that they followed?” He tried to keep both of their attention off the food and on the information

“I do, thought only that he had a strange hat and came and left through the door Hermes uses to bring the dead to me.” He dabbed his mouth with a napkin

“No name?” Lance asked, sounding like he’d meant it more as a joke than a real query

“Careful, Lance McClain. Names have power.”

The son of Aphrodite opened and closed his mouth for a few moments, obviously upset, “Why the hell does everyone keep saying that?”

“Because it’s true. Especially in these days.” For the first time, he seemed sincere, and… solemn, “Names have power. I don’t know what the boy’s name was.”

“Thank you.” Keith murmured, “For telling us what you know. But you had another choice for me? I promised to answer honestly.”

“I know.” Hades rose again, “But not today. I want you both to stay another day. At dinner tomorrow I’ll give you your second option. For now, please, enjoy your time here.”

He left the room, having finished his own meal and leaving the pair of boys to theirs.

“This is shady as fuck.” Lance hissed, “We got what we came for, we should go.”

He started standing, pulling Keith’s old red jacket that had been in his lap on. It was strange to see him so suspicious of anything. He started towards the door Hades had left through

“I don’t think we should.” Keith stayed put

“ _What?_ ” Lance rounded on him looking, if at all possible, more upset.

“I gave a _god_ my word that we would stay. Besides the first choice he gave us turned out well, the second one could help us too.” He should have assumed Lance would want to do anything that contradicted him. It was just in the other boy’s nature to make every little step they took way harder than it had to be. Why else would he want to make a decision that could put them in more danger?

“ _Or_ it could be much worse. Why do you think he wants us to wait here so long? He’s trying to starve us out. He knows we can’t eat the food here and then just _leave_. He’s biding his time so we have to stay here.”

It made sense, Keith hated that it made sense.

“So we just don’t eat. Don’t tell me you’ve never gone more than a day without eating, regardless of his plan we’ll wait until the choice he gives me tomorrow and then we’ll get out of here as fast as we can.”

Lance groaned, “For the record, this idea is stupid.”

“Duly noted.”

~~

Nights in the underworld seemed mercifully short. He and Lance had been separated once again, much to Lance’s displeasure. Though Keith had actually secretly enjoyed the chance to be free of the son of Aphrodite. They’d been together almost constantly since the Empusa’s lair and if he was being completely honest he was starting to get on his nerves. Especially with the fact that every decision he made was questioned, and argued, and contradicted at every turn. Lance complained and he never shut up even when there was absolutely nothing to say about the situation. It made him sick and any chance he had to be away from the other boy was more than welcome.

However… He had to put aside his pride to admit that this _was_ suspicious. Hades was said to be greedy, drawing as many people into his land as he could and the prolonged stay….

It was strange, he had to agree on that. Regardless there really wasn’t much he could do. It would be foolish to go directly against the wishes of a god, especially in his own domain and Keith really _was_ curious about what Hades would give him the choice between.

He wanted to talk to Pidge more than anything else, she would have known what to do, just like she always did. She had the unparalleled ability to make him see reason and logic where he only processed his emotions. Besides if he could contact her he could start looking into whoever this boy that Hades had mentioned was. Keith could only guess he was a son of Hermes, who could have made him privy to the passageway, and hopefully she could work her magic and find them a list of boys to interrogate.

The day in the Underworld went by much more slowly. He avoided the gardens, lest anyone think he was looking for golden apples or hungry for pomegranate seeds. Most of the castle was off limits too, and even though he looked, he couldn’t seem to find Persephone. He thought that maybe Lance’s plan would still work if they needed to cut and run but…

By the time he was called back for dinner he’d spent almost twenty-four hours away from Lance and the world around him had seemed almost uncomfortably quiet. He wondered how the other boy had held up all day…

When he got to the dining room, he was again the last one present. Hades was already sipping from his goblet and Lance had this time around ditched the jacket. He looked… out of place, the black clothes didn’t quite fit him, almost like they were too tight, or restricting. He just didn’t look quite right.

“There he is” The man greeted, cheerful as he had been the day before, “Please, sit. Don’t worry we haven’t been waiting long.”

“That’s… relieving” Keith did as he was told, trying not to look over at Lance. For whatever reason he didn’t think he could handle seeing the boy’s eyes, “So, you have a choice for me?”

“I do” Hades smiled, “Why don’t we cut to the chase then? You have a simple choice. I assume you’ve heard the story of Orpheus?”

“I have.”

“Brilliant. Then your options are simple, you can chose to walk out of here with your friend Lance, just as you both came in _or_ you can lead your mother out of the underworld in the same trial I gave Orpheus. So long as you make it all the way out without looking back, she’ll return to the land of the living. No memory, mind you, but she’ll be alive again.”

Lance’s eyes were immediately on Keith, he could feel them burning into him, “And how will I know she’d even follow me? If she doesn’t know who I am why would she bother going anywhere with me?”

“I suppose you’ll just have to trust me” Hades purred, taking a drink from his goblet, “So, who will be accompanying you back to the land of the living? This boy, or your mother?”

“Keith” he heard it small and desperate. It was in Lance’s voice but… it was hard to believe _Lance_ had said it. He supposed he could hear it from a boy, shirtless and cut up in an Empusa’s bathtub but… that boy and Lance were different. He’d learned that over the last two weeks.

He tried not to think about it too hard, knowing that he would overanalyze the situation. He did think about the life debt that Lance owed him, and then about the shack he lived in, brightened by his mother, and Pidge and Matt and Shiro. It would be a while, giving his mother new memories to replace the old ones she no longer had but… Having his family back… It was more than he’d ever dreamed to ask for since the day she died.

He didn’t look at Lance, couldn’t.

“I chose my mother.”

He heard Lance get up, and heard him shouting but his focus was only on Hades, who was smiling like the cat who’d gotten the cream.

He tried not to think about Lance. Lance owed him this, what he was doing was right.

He heard the struggling and didn’t look. Someone or something had taken the son of Aphrodite from the room and only when he heard the door slam shut did he realize he’d been holding his breath the whole time. His hand were shaking, and somewhere in the back of his head he wondered when that had started happening.

“So what now? I start walking and trust that you’ll send my mother after me?” He stood, tired and cold to his core

“You will pass this trial.” Hades said, smiling, “Go back the way you came, Cerberus will let you pass.”

The god went back to his food, almost as if Keith wasn’t there at all. He took a shaky breath, “My knife.”

Hades quirked a smile and waved his hand, the knife didn’t appear and Keith straightened again, “My knife was a gift from my father, it would be an insult to him for you to keep it from me.”

Once more he was waved away, “This is a trial of trust. I trust you, and you trust me. Go, you’ll get your weapon back.”

He hated it. Keith was not a being of trust, not for mortals certainly. He’d only met two of the gods of Olympus, and he’d found that he trusted them even less.

Still he turned and he went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your comments and Kudos!


	4. Chapter 4

The walk that had seemed short before now took hours. He tried to listen for her steps, but even when he did hear her he found that he couldn’t really be sure it wasn’t his imagination. His knife hadn’t reappeared yet, and the silence was absolutely unbearable.

Once he had started walking away from the castle it had been nice. His thoughts were so jumbled up that the opportunity to untangle them without Lance’s constant chatter was more than welcome but as he went and the longer he second guessed himself about putting any trust in Hades the worse it was.

Lance may have been annoying, but more than anything else he was real. He was warm and smart and unafraid. Keith knew when he was going to do something stupid, or when he was being impulsive because there was absolutely nothing keeping the son of Aphrodite from calling him out on it. They’d not been the best team, but they’d certainly been a good one.

He would miss Lance.

He also knew that Shiro would be livid if he ever found out that Keith had left someone behind in order to bring their mother back to the land of the living. Even more so if he knew that the person he’d left behind had done nothing but try to help the whole time…

What was he doing?

Was he really choosing his mother, a woman who’d been dead for _years,_ who wouldn’t remember him no matter how hard he tried, who might not even be following him, over _Lance_?

It wasn’t fair of him. Life debt or not, he’d just exchanged a life that didn’t belong to him. Given away a boy who had years and years ahead of him, and friends in every city, and the fondness of a goddess who should have hated such a flirt.

He’d killed Lance McClain.

Finally he stopped, hours into his journey out of the Underworld and he thought hard about what he was going to do.

“I’m sorry” He said, out loud, and then steeling himself, he turned to look at his mother.

~

Again the trip further into hell was fast, like he was travelling with the current. He was sure that with the rest of his life he would never be able to completely get rid of the image of his mother, looking confused and sad as she flickered out of view.

He told himself over and over that it would be worth it, that he could live with it as soon as he had Lance by him again. They’d make it out of this alive. Lance would make it out alive.

Regardless of if he ever forgave him or not.

He took the stairs of the castle two at a time, and wasn’t surprised at all when the door wouldn’t open up for him. Instead he moved around the outside, trying to find a place to climb up the side of the castle, or maybe a window that he could break to get inside.

He walked alongside the wall for a while, keeping one hand on it and his eyes up.

Then, he heard it.

Lance, laughing. Something loosened in his chest and he broke into a run, looking for where the other boy was and stumbling into the gardens. Lance was sitting on a bench, speaking to a woman with her back turned to Keith. Her hair was mass of black curls down her back, in it was a plethora of flowers of all shapes and sizes. They were bright, and he thought they might even be connected to the vines that had wrapped themselves around her arms

_Persephone_

_Of course_ he hadn’t seen her in the castle. He felt stupid for never considering the goddess of spring spending her time in a garden. He watched her rise, pulling a flower form her hair and tucking it behind Lance’s ear before she left him alone. She walked barefoot towards the castle.

“Lance” Keith hissed softly, moving away from the foliage and the castle wall over to where the son of Aphrodite was still sitting, looking happier than Keith had ever seen him, “Lance, come on.”

He looked up, and any bit of bliss that had been there before was gone, “Keith?”

“It’s me-“He was cut off by Lance tackling him to the ground, “-Lance!”

“You fucking asshat!” He yelled, throwing a punch at Keith’s face, “You absolute dick! You left me for _dead_!”

Keith took it, immediately tasting blood in his mouth, “Lance-“He choked, putting his hands on the other boy’s wrists. He pushed and the two of them struggled for a moment, Lance trying to keep him down and Keith trying to flip them over.

Keith succeeded in the end, rolling on top and pinning Lance to the floor with all his weight, “ _Stop_ for just one minute and let me apologize.”

“ _Apologize?_ After what you _did?_ ” He wasn’t struggling, but Keith felt like they were still wrestling. He was dizzy and his arms were shaking

“I _know_ , I know, but I’m _sorry_. What I did was wrong and I…” He stared for a moment, not actually sure what he should say. How was someone actually supposed to apologize for leaving someone for dead?

“And you came back now? What, do you still need a bargaining chip? Get lost _mullet_ , I’m dead now and I’ve never been happier!”

“Will you stop _screaming_? I’m sorry, Lance, I’m _sorry_ and you don’t have to forgive me but at least let me make this right. I left my mom here on purpose to come back and get you. I should never have left you behind.” He took a big shaky breath, “Your life wasn’t mine to give…. And if anything it’s me who owes _you_ a life debt now. I’m sorry.”

Lance had gone quiet, and his limbs had gone limp, “Keith. Get off me.”

He did, slowly though so that if the other boy tried to hit him again he could stop it. Once he was off Lance sat up, “I told you. I’m happy here. I don’t want to go.” He pulled his knees to his chest, “You can leave, Persephone just went to get me something to eat. I’m ready to stay here.”

“Lance _listen to yourself_. You can’t just give up your life now! I just-“

“Lance” Persephone had returned quietly, standing at the edge of the garden with a hand full of pomegranate seeds, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing” Lance stood “Keith was just leaving.”

“Keith?” Her eyes lit up and she stepped forward moving to him quickly, “ _The_ Keith? You did come back.”

“What?”

“The test. You’ve passed.” She sat by him, ignoring that Lance was still on his feet, “You came back. But that doesn’t matter now.”

“It doesn’t?” Absolutely nothing made any sense at all, and Keith was reminded very strongly of the fact that he was a fucking Demigod. A child of an ancient religion and of course nothing in his life would ever make any sense.

“No, what matters now is you both getting out of here. Lance? Are you ready to go?” She looked at him and Keith was struck by how beautiful she was. Her dark skin was stark against the bright green of her eyes

“I’m sorry, _what_?” Lance looked scandalized, “I’m not _going with him_!”

“You aren’t?” She frowned, “But he came back for you. Very romantic, by the way”

Keith opened his mouth and then closed it again, deciding to just let them talk

“He was ready to leave me here!” Lance moved back, away from the both of them. He looked frustrated, and sad. Tears had started welling in his eyes, “I’m not following him anywhere anymore.”

“So you’re going to die for him?” She looked up at him, gaze steady.

“I…. What?”

“If you stay here, then you’ve died for him. You chose that he can take his mother home, and you chose that his wishes are more important than your life.” She picked each word carefully, “Most importantly if you chose to stay here, you chose to abandon my son. It would devastate him to find one of his best friends dead.”

Lance looked like he’d been struck, “Hunk…”

“That’s right.” She said, finally standing, “Don’t go with Keith for _Keith_ , go for _you_ ”

“I…” He nodded, finally, “I’ll go.”

She smiled, “Good. Go get your things, I’ll wait here with Keith.”

Lance nodded again and left, hugging himself as he went.

“That was amazing.”

“I know it was.” She turned to him and there was something horrifying about having all of her attention, “Listen to me, Keith Kogane, don’t you dare hurt that boy again.”

There wasn’t even a real threat there, just her steady gaze. He was petrified none the less.

“I… I can’t make any promises. But I can tell you that I’ll try.”

She regarded him for another moment, “That’s all I can ask for, I suppose.”

They stood for a couple of minutes together in silence. He let the exhaustion sink into his bones. He hadn’t slept long or well since Shiro had gone missing, and Lance had provided a whole new kind of stress to his life, whether he was fighting to save Lance, or get rid of Lance, or get Lance back. He was tired, to his bones and honestly if he could have anything he wanted he’d fast forward. Find himself in a world with his brother, and his friends, and Lance safe in his shack and far away from anything mythology related for a long time.

That was out of his reach though, and he hated it.

Lance had returned, blue pack over his shoulder and back in his old clothes. Aside from Keith’s jacket, which was pointedly missing, “I’m ready to go.”

Persephone went to him and put her hands on his shoulders, “Tell my son that I miss him, and that I love him.”

“I will” He nodded, “I promise.”

Lance looked to Keith and gestures with his chin, “Lead the way.”

Keith took a breath, and started leading Lance back the way that they had originally come from.

~

The walk out of hell was quiet, though Keith had the feeling he wasn’t actually receiving the silent treatment. Lance was pointedly dignified, though his eyes were still red from crying and Keith thought for a couple agonizing minutes that the guilt of what he’d done might just eat him alive.

They walked up the stairs to the land of the living and Keith stopped, “We never delivered the letter.”

“Probably better that we didn’t. Allura’s Father doesn’t remember her. She’s been trying to jog his memory for a while now and we all know it’s not healthy. Coran is trying to break her out of it but it’s taking time…” He looked over, eyes dull, “So we tell her that we delivered it and eventually she’ll stop going back.”

“That’s horrible” He said, the lies and schemes didn’t seem like Lance.

“Like leaving someone in the Underworld so that you can bring you mother back from the dead?”

Okay.

“Okay, I deserve that. I’m sorry.” He sighed. They’d made it out the way they came, having ended up right back in the field they’d started in. The clouds were black and the winds howling all around “So… Is, this it? Are you-“

A screech filled the air and suddenly Keith was very aware that they weren’t alone. When his hand went to his hip he found that his knife had been returned. He supposed one day he would have to address the amount of comfort he got from having a blade in his hand, but this day wasn’t that day.

Up in the sky three harpies making horrible noises circled them like vultures.

Keith pulled his knife off his belt and felt it change in his hand. The small emblem of his father glowed, allowing the little knife to change, blade growing longer and more wicked.

“I _thought_ you said no time would have passed!” Lance hissed, pistol in his hand, “Where’s Allura? How long have we been in hell?”

“I don’t know.” Keith whispered, keeping his eyes on the harpies. They’d kept their altitude, making no move to swoop low, “We shouldn’t assume they intend to attack us. Come on, let’s just…” He moved slowly towards the far side of the field, where Allura been before they’d gone. Only then did a harpy make any move to attack. She made a horrific noise, and nosedived at him, only stopping long enough to flare her wings and snap her talons at his shoulders. She flew higher, but stayed low this time. A threat, clear as day.

Lance cocked the pistol and moved closer to Keith just as one of the others swooped, this time going for the son of Aphrodite. He shot and missed and the other two swooped in.

There was something beautiful about battle. Something poetic that were Keith a man of words he may have written in blood. His blade, now much more of a sword that a knife, cleaved through the air around him, trying to catch a harpy. They were too fast for that though. Darting in and out of his vision even as he looked around wildly. Lance had fired four shots. He found himself keenly aware of that. Counting every time a bullet left the pistol. He could hear the other boy cursing too, evidently having better aim when he wasn’t fighting against creatures of wind and speed.

Keith swung again and came away with blood on his blade. One of them screeched but none fell and a second time one dove for him. He was ready though and swung hard, cleaving though her neck and wheeling back in time for another one to sink her talons into his shoulders, dragging him off the ground. He felt himself scream and when he tried to swing for her he found that he couldn’t reach her. Not without doing much worse damage to his shoulders.

Lance fired a fifth shot and Keith dropped to the floor. He wasn’t high enough for the drop to do more than bruise, though the talons in his shoulder were deep.

The last harpy went for Lance and he heard two more shots. He turned, trying to move one arm up enough to pull the talons out of at least one of his shoulders even while crumpled on the floor. He got two of the talons out when he heard the next shot and saw the last of the creatures go down.

Lance stood, his shirt torn across the middle and blood leaking down to his navel, “Keith?” He moved back slowly, dirty hand pressed over the marks the harpy had made on him.

Keith got out three more talons, the finally wrapped his hand around the last one tearing it out and taking a moment to breath, “Here!” he called.

There was true agony in using his arms, and when Lance helped him sit up it was more than welcome. The marks left by the talons weren’t as deep as he’d originally thought, though they hurt enough for him to believe they were going to kill him. Lance made a little hushing noise and shrugged off his bag.

“I have ambrosia, just breath okay?” He pulled a blue T-shirt from the bag and tore it in half, pressing each half on Keith’s shoulders, “Hold pressure on those. Keep breathing okay? Don’t pass out.”

“It’s okay” Keith said, feeling nauseous with the amount of his blood he saw soaking into the fabric, “My father… I got the wounds in battle”

The other boy wasn’t listening and pressed the ambrosia into one of Keith’s hands, putting pressure on that shoulder so that Keith could eat, “Just breathe. You owe me _way_ too much to die right now, you bastard.”

He ate it, though moving his arm enough to get it to his mouth hurt like a motherfucker. He fell into a little rhythm, nibble, breath- in out in out- nibble, breath, nod at whatever Lance was saying. He really wasn’t listening anymore, focusing mostly on eating and staying conscious. He felt Lance try to wrap the shirt around his arms like a make-shift bandage and he allowed himself to be hauled to his feet.

For a moment though, Keith got a good look at the other boys face. A boy he had almost let die. A boy that had just saved his life. Lance should have just thrown his arms up and said ‘life debt repaid’ but he didn’t. He was still moving with Keith, trying to get him to safety. There wasn’t much logic behind why exactly but Keith was grateful none the less. Lance moved forward, and regardless of his skinny frame he managed to move fairly quickly with most of Keith’s weight on him.

“I’m sorry.” He found himself saying, half conscious

“You’re not forgiven.” Lance replied, keeping him as steady as he could. He didn’t look angry, but Keith knew he still was, “You’re not getting out of this just because you’re half dead, buddy.”

“Okay” He said.

“Okay” Lance said. Then he broke into a little smile, almost impossible to notice between the breaths he had to take to keep dragging Keith along, “Maybe Okay will be our always. Okay?”

“Oh my god Lance, I’m bleeding out and you’re making _memes_ at me?”

The son of Aphrodite laughed, and Keith wondered for just a moment, how he had intended to live without that sound.

~

As it turned out, being half dead really didn’t get you out of almost killing your newest friend.

Lance was smart enough not to go to the hospital. There was no way to explain the marks and neither of them had the money to pay. Regardless of Lance flirting with a doctor they’d likely not squirm out of that bill.

He stayed awake through the walk to the nearest town and the car ride from there to a motel that he didn’t quite remember. How Lance had explained away toting around a half dead kid, and a ride to a motel and not a hospital, Keith would never truly know. He was finally dumped onto the toilet of a dank bathroom and his shirt was cut off carefully. Lance spoke to him the whole time, quietly, and not always in English. Probably speaking to himself more than he was actually talking to Keith.

He felt the water being washed over his wounds, and saw Lance carefully cover a sewing needle in some kind of liquid, “What are you doing?” He asked

“Your wounds need to be stitched shut. I need you to hold still, okay?” He nodded and tried not to think about the sting of Lance’s fingers, probably covered in some kind of disinfectant. He pulled one of the holes shut and pushed the needle through.

Keith had had wounds that required stitches before. He had also given impromptu stitches like the ones Lance was giving him to Shiro and Matt. So luckily he didn’t make any noise too loud. A little grunt that Lance ignored and pressed on.

They didn’t talk. Lance didn’t monologue or sing like Keith would have expected him to. They just sat in peace for what felt like hours as the needle passed through the wounds again, and again.

Once they were done, they both left the bathroom and the feeling of content with it. Any sense of peace between them had ripped open the moment that all of Keith’s wounds were closed up.

They didn’t speak to one another, and after an hour Lance ordered a pizza for them.

“We don’t have any money” Keith said

“I have the power of manipulation” Lance said and the subject was dropped. He felt like he was walking on eggshells. He didn’t want to break them more than they were already broken, but he also didn’t want to cut up his feet on their edges.

Lance was awkward around him, he didn’t seem angry like he had been before but… He was cautious. He skirted around Keith like there was a chance he’d betray him again. Like there was nothing he could do to make up for it.

Keith thought there really might not be anything he could do to apologize for temporarily killing his friend.

Friend. Huh. That was weird.

At some point he really started considering Lance a friend. Usually it took him much longer to think that of anyone who wasn’t Shiro. Gods knew he only really thought of Pidge and Matt as people he really cared for after a good six months. Lance had only been around for about two weeks, and frankly he had somehow wormed his way into Keith’s heart with all his constant talking, and their fighting, and the unyielding loyalty. Lance hadn’t even abandoned him after Keith had _killed_ him.

After a long time Keith picked up the phone in the room and dialed Pidges number.

“Holt.” She answered. The lack of computer keys in the background and sleepiness in her voice gave him hope that maybe she’d found a moment to take a nap

“Pidge, it’s Keith.”

“Keith!” she said, “How was the underworld? Still have all of your limbs? Did you find out any leads? I’m fresh out.”

“Yeah.” He looked over to find that Lance was pointedly ignoring him. The son of Aphrodite was on the floor, with his pistol in pieces all around him and a greasy towel in hand. He cleaned each part with care, keeping his full attention on the gun, “Shiro and Matt made it to the underworld. They were led out by a boy with a weird hat that came and went through Hermes’s door.”

“A son of Hermes?” He heard rustling and the sing-song noise her computer made when it started booting up

“I think so.”

“I’m going to start looking into it. Are you okay? How’s Lance?” She sounded like she was actually worried and Keith felt his chest ache. He wondered how he would have answered that question if Lance hadn’t been there. If it was his mother instead.

“I’m alive, but a little torn up around the edges and Lance… Lance is doing good.”

“Good!” She chirped, before he could say anything else. She talked at him for a little while about code and work she’d done and how when they got Matt back he’d be so proud of her.  By the end of the conversation Pidge was absolutely buzzing with hope and coffee and she seemed so happy that Keith didn’t want to upset her with any talk of what he had done.

He told himself it was for her sake, anyway.

She hung up after a while and Lance looked over at him, clearly angry, “’Lance is going good’?”

“I-“

“I don’t want to hear whatever you’re going to say! You didn’t tell her what you did to me! You were too scared to let someone know what a fucking _monster_ you are! You left me to die and you can’t even admit it.” He stood and moved over, eyes icy, “You’re fucking pathetic, you know that? Maybe your brother didn’t disappear, maybe he left you. Maybe he doesn’t want anything to do with you because you’re a selfish little _prick_ with anger issues and not a single thought in his godsdamn head! Maybe he left because he didn’t want to keep looking over his shoulder to make sure you weren’t there with your knife! Maybe-“

Loud knocking on the door stopped Lance mid shout and Keith found that he couldn’t actually see past the tears in his eyes. The son of Aphrodite stopped and actually went to the door, pulling it open and facing down the person who dared interrupt him.

It was their pizza.

The _girl_ with their pizza more specifically.

He watched Lance try to charm her into giving it to him, but the girl was unrelenting. She left with their food and Lance slammed the door shut going over to his bed and flopping into it like all of the energy had been drained out of him. Keith thought about saying something. They were both sad and hungry and angry and tired. He opened and closed his mouth trying to come up with the words.

Lance’s words hurt. He knew he didn’t deserve to be blamed for his brother leaving. But for a tiny, horrible eternity he thought maybe he _was_ at fault. If he could get someone as trusting and kind as Lance to hate him, maybe he could force Shiro away too.

Maybe he didn’t deserve people loving him at all.

He felt sleep begin to take him slowly, with that terrible thought wrapped around him. He would apologize to Lance again in the morning. He’d try to make it up to him somehow.

He’d try to prove he was worth loving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tfw you start realizing you might be in love with a boy you almost killed
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for all the reviews, they are my life blood


	5. Chapter 5

When Lance woke up, he found that his back was twisted painfully and that he'd bled totally through his shirt. He felt nauseous, from the lack of food or the blood loss or both he wasn't sure. He remained exhausted, and tried for what felt like a long time to just burrow under the blankets of yet another shitty motel bed and wait to bleed out.

  
He focused himself on not thinking of Hunk. If he thought of Hunk he would get up and re-wrap his wound and keep on surviving. If he thought of Hunk and his hugs and his delicious food and his jokes and how fucking sad he would be if Lance never appeared at his door again- Oh damn it. He rolled out of the bed and looked down at the blood stain he'd left and felt sick with the sight but forced himself to look. Then he looked over to Keith's bed and saw just the Son of Ares's bag and a piece of notebook paper with something scrawled across it.    
  
He decided he'd deal with his wounds before bothering to read it and crossed the room to the door of the bathroom.   
  
It hadn't been a clean room to begin with, but since the day before it was much worse. There was a bloody needle and thread sitting on the counter, the remains of both Keith's shirt from the day before and Lance's own spare shirt in two torn pieces on the floor. There was enough dried blood that Lance really considered the pros and cons of just letting the cleaning crew get it.    
  
He stripped out of his newly bloodied shirt and dumped it on the floor with the others.   
His cut wasn't as bad as Keith's, not nearly as deep but much longer and unfortunately it hadn't been from the fight the day before. The Empusa had left a horrible slice across his ribs. Dipping down towards his belly button, made specifically to bleed him. She'd put smaller cuts up his arms and legs, close to his arteries but never getting them. The fight the day before had simply opened his stomach wound wide open. The struggle with Keith, just getting him to the motel started pulling blood from him and by the time he'd finished stitching the other boy up and ordered something to eat the bleeding has slowed, and he had hoped, stopped. He’d given Keith the last of his ambrosia and mourned the accelerated healing it gave him.   
  
He must have opened it again while sleeping, and remaining in a strange twisted position must have kept it open and bleeding. When he checked his sewing kit he found that the stitches he'd given Keith took too much of his thread to sew it closed and he didn't have much else to help. He took one of the sparse towels in the room and wet it in the sink, drawing it over the wound in hard swipes, meant to hurt. He would clean it, but he would not be kind to himself in the process. He went back to his bag which had always been there for him and pulled out the half roll of duct tape he still had. Lance replaced the wet towel with a fresh one and folded it carefully before setting it on the counter.   
  
Methodically he started to pull off long strips of tape, putting one end on the side of the counter until he thought he had enough. Then he pressed the towel to the wound and secured it in place with his tape. Mechanical, detached, easy.    
  
When he was done he made the mistake of looking his reflection in the eye.   
  
He looked like hell, honestly. He was pale, losing color with blood and hollow. His eyes were sunken in and red and he'd probably lost enough weight to be in some real trouble. His mouth tasted like ash and venom and he wished that he'd just stayed in the underworld again.    
  
He felt tired and worn and angry. So so angry. Maybe not so much at Keith anymore but at himself. He felt the edges of guilt start closing in. He really processed what he'd said the night before and sagged against the counter with the weight in his chest.   
  
"Dick move, McClain" he murmured to himself. He moved from the counter long enough to slide to the floor, letting out a little sigh.    
  
He sat there for a long time, looking over the dirty ceiling and bathroom walls and willing himself out of existence, or at least, trying to find one tiny iota of bravery in his cowards soul to say sorry to Keith for what he'd said. There were things that couldn’t be forgiven. A part of Lance knew that and knew that he was in the wrong for the things he said and that apologizing was the right thing to do but he also knew that in comparison Keith had hurt him worse than he’d ever been hurt before. Keith was impulsive and often thoughtless, he’d learned that he was so very loyal to a select group of people and that the opportunity to get one of those people back from death would have eclipsed the sacrifice necessary. Lance found that everytime he looked at the betrayal he understood it more, but also that it hurt him deeper. Keith acted out of desperation and Lance learned that after all the time he spent putting effort and charm into making Keith like him that the other boy was too closed off and distrustful to see him as any more than an annoyance. Keith would still abandon him in favor of those he considered family. He understood and it hurt that it made sense. 

 

But logical or not, he couldn’t make himself forgive Keith.

  
Finally, he pulled himself up to his feet, moving tenderly with his new reopened wound and went to work scrubbing the blood up. It was best for both he and Keith if it didn’t look like someone had dismembered a hitchhiker in their bathroom. Then he went to change clothes. By the time he'd pulled a his last t-shirt on Keith burst through the door with one of the biggest grins Lance had ever seen on his face and a brown paper bag with grease stains at the bottom   
  
"We've got a lead!" He announced proudly, tossing the bag at Lance.

 

“A lead?” He pulled open the bag and sternly told the part of him that wanted to die that Hunk would miss him. Pushing past the nausea he already felt he ripped into the cheap breakfast sandwich Keith had brought him. The soggy bacon and fake eggs made him feel worse.

 

“Pidge called, apparently our argument about trust inspired her to call an old friend of hers, and she found a facility about two days east that she thinks may be where Shiro and Matt are.” Keith sat across from him and popped open a can of coffee, “She said that there are a few Demis that lure other greek life there, specifically a son of Hermes and an ex hunter of Artemis.”

 

Lance nodded a little, carefully re-packing his pack, “I’m not walking there, if you were under the impression that I would.”

 

Keith held the can in his hands, lacing his fingers together around it, “Yeah, I was actually hoping that you could get us on a train. It’s the fastest way there”

 

He stood and threw the blankets over the blood stain on the sheets of his bed before Keith could see them and gestured, “We should head out then. You can tell me the exact details of where we’re going on the way.” He paused for a pregnant moment, “Keith?”

 

His companion looked up at him, and before he could let himself think too much about what he was about to do he spoke, “I don’t forgive you for what you did in the underworld, but I’m sorry for the things I said yesterday.”

 

There, fuck his coward soul, he was an adult (mostly) and if nothing else he could relieve some of his guilt.

 

He did, however, get a rush of gratification upon seeing just how guilty it made Keith look. He wasn’t a saint, okay? Let him have this.

 

“I… It’s okay. I did something terrible, and I don’t deserve your forgiveness” He took a breath, “and I understand that you were upset and you had every right. It’s okay”

 

Lance smiled at Keith and Keith smiled back. For just a moment the tightness in his chest eased, “Get your stuff, let’s go slut our way onto a train”

 

~

 

Something about watching Lance use his gift always rubbed Keith the wrong way. Maybe because he was watching what it did to boys from the outside knowing full well that Lance had done it to him. Maybe it was how easily his companion could manipulate someone and never look like he felt bad about it. Lance even spoke about some of the boys he chatted up after they parted ways

 

He was leaning against the counter, long legs crossed while he laughed at whatever the ticket boy had just said. The boy was falling for it so easily, going as far as to actually  _ flex _ in a public place like a huge douche. Keith wanted to hit him and tell him that none of it was real. Lance was using him and that none of this  _ meant  _ anything, he wasn’t special. 

 

Keith was so busy trying to drill a hole through the boys head with this glare that he hardly even noticed when Lance turned back around, a pair of tickets in hand and a number in sharpie scrawled across his arm, “Ready?”

 

“Uh, right, yeah. Let’s go.”

 

He followed him through the crowd in the train station and onto their ride. Lance lead him into their compartment, plopping down on one of the seats and giving Keith a grin that he was pretty sure was fake, “We got the whole thing to ourselves. I have a friend that lives not far from the place you told me about. We’re going to go visit him, to get properly patched up and fed before we rush into whatever situation your brother is in.”

 

It wasn’t stated as a question, and Keith forced himself to remember that he owed Lance and not the other way around, “Okay.”

 

“Good.”

 

Then, they were quiet. The train set off and the only thing to break the silence was someone coming in to check their tickets. Soon after that Lance slid off his chair and onto the floor, once more methodically taking his gun and pulling it apart. Throughout the soft clang of plastic and metal Keith found himself lulled to sleep.

 

~

 

He woke again later, sunlight streaming onto his face and the gentle rumble of the train rocking him. Lance was still on the floor, though he’d switched his gun for a swiss pocket knife, blade out. He scraped the dirt from under each of his nails with it carefully.

 

“What time is it?” He asked, pushing himself up and using his fingers to pull the tangles out of his hair

 

Lance looked up, surprised. Then simply went back to his task, “Threeish, I grabbed you an apple from the dining carl.”

 

“Mm” He hummed too tired to do much more than reposition himself and watch his companion. Somehow, even on the road with one pair of pants to his name Lance managed to be as hygienic as possible. He had some kind of face cream that he kept in his bag and at every chance he got he took lotion from the motels they stayed at and apparently even groomed his nails. 

 

He considered commenting on it, but instead said, “I had a weird dream.”

 

Blue eyes regarded him for only a moment, “What was it about?”

 

“Lions in space” He responded, “A huge war, and all the lions would come together and make a huge robot? I only remember some of it.” He looked over at Lance, and for the first time noticed that there was something on his side. Under his shirt there was some kind of pad, a soft bump that wrapped around the side of his ribs, “You were there, but I… I was going to die. Someone on the other side had taken Shiro and replaced him with someone else. He cut me open and all I could think was that you and some others were going to die if I didn’t get back to you”

 

Lance blinked, “That sounds like… you had an awesome dream that turned into a nightmare. Like lions in space? A huge robot? And evil version of your brother? That’s rad.”

 

Keith felt a smile pull at his lips, “That’s ‘rad’ to you? You have to have higher standards. Without an animal sidekick, a secret resistance and discovering a long lost parent nothing can be classified as ‘rad’”

 

Lance looked like someone had flashed a bright light in his face, “Did you just make a  _ joke _ ? Did you just describe  _ Star Wars _ ?”

 

Keith threw his head back and laughed hard enough to make the stitches on his shoulders  sting. He rubbed them tenderly, but didn’t stop smiling, “What? I make jokes.”

 

“You don’t” Lance said, giving him a look Keith couldn’t quite decipher. A sort of scrutiny that made him feel nervous.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

“I don’t think I’ve never seen you laugh before.”

 

They got quiet again, turning away from each other, and for a time Lance went back to focusing very closely on his nails

 

“...Not that it’s a bad thing” He said quietly, “You really need to lighten up.”

 

Keith snorted softly, “I’m light, I’m light and cool”

 

“ _ Sure” _ This time the silence between them was amiable, both smiling through it.    

 

On a whim, Keith looked at his life and his choices, then at Lance and thought  _ fuck it. _

 

“I’m glad you’re here.” 

 

It hung between them for a moment, and Keith held strong, gaze steady even though his heart was pounding.

 

“I…” for a moment he thought Lance would play it off as a joke, something like desperation crossing his face, “I actually wanted to thank you.”

 

Again silence fell over them and Keith was struck by the thought that Lance was never quiet for this long, “Keith do you feel lost, ever? Like, life is just terrible and you’d think praying to your mom, and burning gas station beef jerky to her like she’s actually listening would give you a direction, a sign… and the next thing you know she destroys all relationships with boys because now they just… do what you want?”

 

He opened his mouth to respond, the light part of his heart sinking, but Lance beat him to it

 

“I joined the hunters and got booted out because I didn’t belong there, got booted out of my home, the only places I’m really wanted at aren’t sustainable, Hunk and Allura and Coran… They’re home, but I have nothing to offer them for what they give me, so I’m a burden, an extra unneeded wheel. You’re… different, Keith.”

 

They met eyes again, and Keith feels like this had gotten out of his hands. Lance had…. Begun bearing his emotions and Keith could barely keep up

 

“You don’t want me here. Or you didn’t, but you  _ do _ need me. And I guess that means I need you.” Lance looked back down to his nails, and the shyness he showed was more than a little uncharacteristic, “Because finally I have something to offer someone.”

 

“You don’t owe anyone anything.” Keith said, almost without realizing it, “Allura, Coran, and probably this Hunk guy, they like you. You don’t need to be needed to be important, Lance.”

 

“It’s the only reason anyone keeps me around.”

 

Keith felt something inside him break, “My mom died when I was young and left me and Shiro alone.”

 

Lance stopped.

 

“She was great, I came home with Shiro one day. He was missing his arm and his wound was infected and our father had never answered either of our prayers. But my mother took him in, invested what little money we had into him and the three of us learned to survive together until she died. I think… by the time she died I needed Shiro and he didn’t need me. But that’s not what relationships  _ are _ Lance. Relationships aren’t based on need or a system of debts between two people, they’re supposed to be about love and care.” His face burned by the end of his speech, something about sounding so cheesy trying to cheer  _ Lance  _ of all people up. 

 

He nodded just a little and flipped his knife closed, tucking it back in that little blue bag, “How did you find him?”

 

“What?”

 

“Shiro, you said you came home with him one day, you must have found him somewhere.”

 

The train rolled to a stop at a station that wasn’t theirs and the bustle that took over the isle outside their cabin gave Keith something to look at that wasn’t Lance, “I found him unconscious in the desert, actually. My mother and I lived in a pretty secluded place and you could walk for miles without finding anyone or anything but cliffs and sand. She never worried when I went off to play during the day so long as I had water with me and I found him mostly dead between the dehydration and the infection and the bleeding. The closest thing to us was this garrison, so we always assumed he came from there.”

 

Lance hummed softly and looked for something else to do with his hands. He rarely sat still, Keith noticed, and cleaned his gun almost obsessively, “Of course, he never actually told us where he came from. He couldn’t ever talk about it without crying and crying and crying so my mother stopped asking and told me if I ever did I’d be in trouble.”

 

They didn’t speak again until the train had begun to move, “Why the hunters?”

 

Lance was quiet for a while, “Well, they were the first Greeks I found. My dad was married when he met my mom and his wife wasn’t...super happy to have me dropped on their doorstep. She found a lot of reasons to get angry with me, saying I was hyperactive, destructive, that I bullied kids at school, was destined to be nothing but a problem. My dad took her side,” He sighed, “I started running away and that’s when I met the hunters. It was a week and a half after the last time I left my dads house and I was little enough not to pose an issue to anyones chastity so they let me stay for a long time actually. They kicked me out when I was seventeen after a… situation with a hunter named Nyma.” 

 

There was something incredibly surreal about the train car they shared. It was it’s own liminal space where three in the afternoon felt more like three in the morning in Pidges room. The bright lights of her computer set up always made him feel honest and somehow between him and the rest of his found family it was the place they stayed together deep into the night. Pidge and Matt would bounce jokes back and forth and Shiro would sit in the bean bag chair in the corner reading about space and Keith would lay on his back in the middle of the room and they’d all just talk until the sun came up. That’s what he felt here, tucked into the corner of this train car, watching Lance root around in his bag for something to do with his hands while they shared more than they had in all the time they’d traveled together. Lance spoke less but his words held more weight, Keith spoke more feeling like something in his chest had finally come loose. Finally there was an easy dynamic between them that hadn’t been around since Lance had charmed him into accepting a life debt.

 

“When the hunters told me to go, I found Hunk. I’d turned eighteen and my mom had given me my gift and Hunk was the first person I had the chance to use it on” Lance continued, unaware of the rose-colored glaze over reality that Keith had found, “I latched onto him and didn’t stop sweet talking him for  _ days,  _ afraid he’d turn me away. His name isn’t actually even Hunk, I just started calling him that and then it caught on.”

 

Lance smiled to himself, wrapping a loose thread from his bag around his finger and unwinding it so he could wrap it again, “The charm doesn’t last forever though, and eventually he started seeing through it but he didn’t tell me for months. When he did he was my best friend and one of the few people I really loved.”

 

They fell silent again for a while, “After my mom died Shiro and I lived with this one foster family for three months in the suburbs before the system tried to seperate us. The day we found out we ran away and they never managed to find us again. We learned to pick pockets together even though I was and am shit at it. Shiro would share whatever we got with anyone who could prove they were a Greek, and that’s how we found Pidge and Matt. Pidge was so much smaller when she was younger, always too skinny and too short to look like a threat, so she started stealing what little we had and when I caught her I dragged her to Shiro because I’d never beat anyone up before.”

 

He looked up at Lance for the first time during his story to see if the other boy was still listening only to find that he looked sad. He was watching Keith with a pitying expression that made his skin crawl and he had to avert his eyes again to finish the story. Lance had trusted him with his past so he could trust Lance with his.

 

“Shiro of course said that Pidge was welcome to our things if she was willing to share and she told him about her brother Matt who was brilliant but sick and about their home far from the city and resources and food. Apparently she would hitchhike back and forth to get what she could for him and Shiro offered to help and… I guess we just stayed together after that.”

 

“Sounds nice” Lance murmured warmly, “When did your dad give you the knife you have?”

 

“He never did, my mom gave it to me before she died.”

 

“Do you ever pray to your dad?”

 

“Fuck no”

 

Lance laughed then, throwing his head back to do it, “Fuck our parents, man. They only listen long enough to make everything worse.”

 

“Yeah.” Keith still felt a sense of having his chest open, it was raw and vulnerable and uncomfortable but at the same time like he wasn’t the only one who felt like that. They were bleeding for eachother and something about that trust between them made Keith flighty and scared. He added, awkwardly, “Fuck these divine daddy issues.”

 

He made Lance laugh again and the sound put him a little more at ease.

 

The last few days continued to hang over them like dark clouds. The guilt got to Keith in the quiet moments he got to himself. Not for the first time he wished he was more like Shiro and quickly after he wished he had Shiro with him to help him right his wrongs. He wanted to talk to him about Lance and how contradictory he was. He was infuriating but Keith wanted to listen to him chatter in the silences that had started feeling so lonely to him. He could see the ways they both were affected and wanted to make it better. He didn’t know how he would do that but he was certain Shiro would. He didn’t know if he would find his brother where they were going.

 

But gods he hoped he would.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm not dead. Hopefully I get the last chapter up sooner rather than later, but no promises


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